Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif openly threatened to use nuclear tactical weapons against India if its “safety is threatened”. Giving an interview to Pakistani TV channel SAMAA on Wednesday, Asif said:
“Tactical weapons joh hain, joh hamne yeh progammes develop kiya hua hai, yeh apne hifazat ke liye develop kiya hua hai. Hamne devices jo hain just as showpieces toh nahin rakhe hue. Lekin agar hamare salamati ko khatra hua, toh hum nestanabhut kar denge unko. (Tactical weapons, our programmes that we have developed, they have been developed for our protection. We haven’t kept the devices that we have just as showpieces. But if our safety is threatened, we will annihilate them (India).”
Asif also said the India “staged” the Uri attack to malign Pakistan.
Asif’s comments came a day after India handed over proof to Pakistani envoy Abdul Basit that the militants who attacked Indian soldiers in Uri were from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
Asif further said: “We will destroy India if it dares to impose war on us. Pakistan army is fully prepared to answer any misadventure of India”.
Asif also spoke about Kashmir’s “independence” in an interview with The Associated Press.
“When the freedom movement in Kashmir succeeds, it will be beginning of the end of India,” he said. Asif said the sacrifices of Kashmiri people will not be in vain and that “India will disintegrate and it will not remain united” when Kashmir gains independence.
Not the First Time He’s Threatened India
This is not the first time Asif has claimed that Pakistan is ready to attack India. Back in August 2015, state-run Radio Pakistan quoted him as saying that India will suffer “heavy losses” which it would “remember for decades” if it tries to “impose” a war on Pakistan.
In an interview with Geo TV on 17 September, when asked if he thought there was a threat of war, Asif answered, "I don't think there is any such threat but as Allah has said in the Quran, ‘The horses must be prepared’, so we should always be completely prepared.”
Source: The Times of India and The Indian Express
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)