ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -Two leading Pakistani television news channels withdrew reports on Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump planned to visit the South Asian nation, with one of them issuing an apology.
Geo and ARY news channels had said earlier on Thursday that Trump was expected to visit Pakistan in September. But both later withdrew their reports.
“Geo News apologises to its viewers for airing the news without a verification,” it said.
A senior management official at ARY told Reuters it backtracked after the foreign office said it had no knowledge of a visit.
George W. Bush was the last U.S. president to visit Pakistan in 2006.
“We have nothing to announce,” a U.S. embassy spokesperson in Islamabad told Reuters, referring further questions on Trump’s schedule to the White House.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S.-Pakistan relations saw a major boost when Trump hosted Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir at the White House last month in an unprecedented meeting.
(Reporting by Ariba Shahid and Asif Shahzad; Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington; Writing by Tanvi Mehta; Editing by YP Rajesh, Bernadette Baum and Joe Bavier)
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