Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday claimed the United States is leading efforts to reduce tension between India and Pakistan. The defence minister made statements while talking to the news agency Reuters.
Asif told the news agency that India’s drone incursion in Pakistan on Thursday made a retaliatory attack on India “increasingly certain”. Earlier, Asif was asked by a CNN anchor for evidence where his government claimed that they shot down India’s fighter jets.
‘It’s all over the social media’
Asif responded, “It’s all over the social media, on Indian social media, not on our social media. The debris of these jets fell into Kashmir. And it’s all over Indian media today and they have admitted.”
The Anchor replied, “I’m sorry we didn’t ask you here to talk about social media content.”
Asif could not reveal the plane used by Pakistani forces
When asked further about the details regarding how the fighter jets were shot down and what equipment was used, Khawaja Asif could not reveal the plane used by Pakistani forces.
‘We have Chinese planes’
Asked about the evidence for the claim and whether Pakistan used Chinese equipment to shoot down Indian jets, he said, “No, Chinese equipment. We have Chinese planes, JF-17 and JF-10. They are Chinese planes, but they are being manufactured, assembled in Pakistan now. We have very close to Islamabad, we have a facility over there where these planes are manufactured and if India can buy planes from France and use them, we can also buy planes from China or Russia or United States, UK and use them.”
Pakistan has been funding and backing terror groups
Earlier in April, Khawaja Asif made a huge admission by stating that Pakistan has been funding and backing terror groups in a viral video clip. In a video clip that has now gone viral, Pakistan’s defence minister was in conversation with Sky News’s Yalda Hakim, when she asks him, “But you do admit, you do admit, sir, that Pakistan has had a long history of backing and supporting and training and funding these terrorist organisations?”
In response, Asif said, “We have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about 3 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. 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.” Asif’s statement lays bare the fact that Pakistan, for many years, has been harbouring these terror groups.
