In an April 25 interview with Sky News, Pakistani Defense Minister Khwaja Asif was quoted as saying, “We have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades ... and the West, including Britain…. That was a mistake, and we suffered for that, and that is why you are saying this to me.” He said this after being asked if he admitted that Pakistan has had a long history of backing, supporting, training, and funding terrorist organizations. “If we had not joined the war against the Soviet Union and, later on, the war after 9/11, Pakistan’s track record was unimpeachable.”
India’s Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN Yojna Patel said April 28 said that Asif’s confession was not surprising and that it exposed Pakistan as a “rogue state” that has been fueling global terrorism. “It is unfortunate that one particular delegation has chosen to misuse and undermine this forum to indulge in propaganda and make baseless allegations against India. The whole world has heard Pakistan’s defense minister Khwaja Asif admitting and confessing Pakistan’s history of supporting, training and funding terrorist organizations in a recent television interview. This open confession surprises no one and exposes Pakistan as a rogue state fuelling global terrorism and destabilizing the region. The world can no longer turn a blind eye,” Patel was quoted as saying in Hindustan Times.
If Pakistan has been a “rogue state,” it has been a tool of Anglo-American imperial destabilization operations against the region as a whole, but that, however, seems to have escaped Patel’s notice.
Asif also caused a bit of stir yesterday, when he told Reuters that Pakistan was preparing for “imminent” military action by India. “We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now. So in that situation some strategic decisions have to be taken, so those decisions have been taken,” he was quoted as saying.
The Pakistan daily Dawn reported on April 28 that in a separate interview on the Samaa TV show “Red Line,” that Asif said: “We should be mentally prepared there is a war looming on the horizon. The possibility is there, a very vivid possibility that we can have war in the next day or two or three or four.”
Questioned about his remarks in an interview on Geo News, Asif said: “I think it has been misinterpreted on some other channel, Samaa. I have already talked to them and I have not said anything like this. They [the channel] asked me what are the chances of war, so I said that the next two to three days were crucial. If something has to happen, then it will occur in the next two to four days … otherwise the immediate danger will pass.”
Asif clarified that his statement should not be misconstrued as a categorical prediction that war would begin within the next two to three days, reiterating that he had only said the “upcoming days would be crucial.” The defense minister said there was “absolutely no doubt” that danger was looming, but “I never said anything about its inevitability.” Videos have been circulating on social media showing Pakistani artillery and military helicopters moving towards the Line of Control in the Kashmir region.