A former Pentagon official has criticised Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir for his recent nuclear rhetoric and compared him with 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.
Michael Rubin said the remarks reflected that Pakistan was behaving like “a rogue state”.
Rubin said the country’s behaviour was completely unacceptable.
“Pakistan is raising questions in many people’s minds about whether it can fulfil the responsibilities of being a state,” Rubin told ANI.
“The Field Marshal’s rhetoric is reminiscent of what we’ve heard from the Islamic State,” he said.
“Within 30 minutes of when Asim Munir made those comments, he should have been ushered out, taken to Tampa International Airport, and flown out of the United States,” Rubin told the news agency.
Munir now threatens Ambani
After the nuke threat to India, Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir has now reportedly threatened to target billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led RIL’s refinery in Jamnagar, Gujarat, media reports said.
Munir made the threat at a formal dinner in Tampa, Florida.
He referred to a social media post with a Quranic verse along with Ambani’s picture, and said he had authorised it during the recent India-Pakistan conflict “to show them what we will do the next time”, The Times of India reported.
Munir has also said that his country will defend its water rights “at all costs” if India goes ahead with dam construction on the Indus River.
He further said that Islamabad would not hesitate to plunge the region into nuclear conflict if the country faces an existential threat in a future war with New Delhi.
“We are a nuclear nation. If we think we are going down, we’ll take half the world down with us,” Munir said, as quoted by NDTV.
Responding to Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir’s nuke threat from the United States, India on Monday said “nuclear sabre-rattling” is Islamabad’s “stock-in-trade”.
Condemning Munir’s remarks, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it “won’t give in to nuclear blackmail”.
The MEA’s statement reads, “Our attention has been drawn to remarks reportedly made by the Pakistani Chief of Army Staff while on a visit to the United States. Nuclear sabre-rattling is Pakistan’s stock-in-trade.”
