Khawaja Asif argued that the image of Pakistan has been wrongly maligned over corruption and also claimed that Islamabad is constantly accused of corruption, but the US has institutionalised such practices under the guise of political funding.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif again made another bizarre remark, claiming that his country is being defamed for corruption, while the US has been accepting bribes from Israel openly. “We are being defamed for taking bribes. American politicians accept bribes from Israel openly. If I have to take bribes, I will do it in a backroom somewhere,” Asif was heard saying during an interview with Geo TV.
Asif says Pakistan’s image is unjustly maligned over corruption
During the interview, he argued that the image of Pakistan has been wrongly maligned over corruption and also claimed that Islamabad is constantly accused of corruption, but the US has institutionalised such practices under the guise of political funding.
The statement from the controversial minister comes amid allegations related to a lack of transparency and increasing corruption in Pakistan.
Asif alleges Pakistan’s top diplomats use black money to leave for Portugal
In August this year, Asif alleged that more than half of Pakistan’s top diplomats were using black money to leave for Portugal. Taking to X, he had posted that the top bureaucrats were moving black money from Pakistan to Portugal.
In the same post, he wrote that senior bureaucrats were moving black money out of Pakistan, specifically criticising aides linked to former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar.
The development comes at a time when Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in June this year faced a corruption trial in which President Trump supported him and termed it a ‘witch hunt’. Many cases filed in 2019 alleged the Israeli leader of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
Here’s what Khawaja Asif said during Operation Sindoor
This is not the first time that Khawaja Asif made such bizarre remarks. During Operation Sindoor, he had exposed the misinformation campaign in Pakistan after India destroyed nine terror sites.
Appearing on a CNN interview, Khwaja Asif bizarrely attributed his claims of Pakistan shooting down five Indian jets to evidence on Social media.
When asked for evidence of the claim that five Indian fighter jets were shot down, he 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 news anchor replied, “I’m sorry we didn’t ask you here to talk about social media content.”
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.
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.”
Asif says Pakistan has been funding terror groups
In another incident, he made a comment, saying 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.”
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