KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 — Putrajaya will not drag Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim into investigations surrounding the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today.

He said the government’s priority was to find the plane in order to shed light on its mysterious disappearance 10 days ago, and blamed the international media for bringing political affiliations into the missing flight’s investigation, singling out UK tabloid The Daily Mail and US news channel CNN.

“We have been very consistent. The government has been focused since day one, has been to search and rescue MH370,” Hishammuddin told a news conference at Sama-Sama Hotel in Sepang that was also telecast live.

“We didn’t bring this up. In fact, the issue of politics was raised by the foreign press. If I was not mistaken, it was The Daily Mail and the CNN today,” he added.

Earlier in the press conference, Hishammuddin stressed that the search operation is “bigger than politics”.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, who was also present in the conference, concurred with Hishammuddin and warned local politicians from seeking cheap publicity from the tragedy.

Anwar was suddenly thrust into the limelight when news reports spread of investigations into the pilot’s background, including his political leanings towards the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition bloc as signalled by his Facebook postings.

Anwar has confirmed having family ties with Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, saying the MH370 pilot is related to his daughter-in-law.

Despite admitting the link, the PKR adviser urged the media to refrain from casting aspersions on Zaharie’s character while investigations are still ongoing.

The opposition leader also dismissed talk that Zaharie’s political affiliation and now, family ties with him, had anything to do with MH370’s disappearance.

The investigative spotlight has focused on Zaharie and his co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, since it became clear that the plane was deliberately diverted from its intended flight path to Beijing by someone on board.

Media reports have noted that Zaharie, 53, was an active member of PKR, and some have suggested he might have sabotaged the flight as an act of political revenge.

In a highly controversial case, Anwar was convicted of sodomy ― illegal in Muslim Malaysia ― just hours before MH370 took off on March 8.