New York- Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has said that the defense agreement with Saudi Arabia is not due to an Israeli attack on Qatar, but is the result of years of ongoing dialogue and cooperation between the two countries.
In an interview given to British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan, Khawaja Asif clarified that the defense agreement reached between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is the outcome of decades-long cooperation and relations.
He said that our defense relations with Saudi Arabia span over 5 to 6 decades; in the past too, our forces have been deployed in Saudi Arabia, and at one point, approximately 4,000 to 5,000 personnel were stationed there and are still present on Saudi soil.
Khawaja Asif stated that the purpose of the recent agreement with Saudi Arabia was to structure the partnership formally, rather than to create a new agreement.
He said that the agreement has merely formalized the defense relations that have existed between us for a long time; previously, these relations were based on certain transactions.
In response to a question, Khawaja Asif reiterated Pakistan’s stance on nuclear weapons, stating that after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, no nuclear power supports the use of these weapons.
The Defense Minister said that Pakistan is committed to adhering to global norms of restraint regarding the use of nuclear weapons.
Speaking on Pakistan’s internal affairs and political situation, Khawaja Asif said that our democracy has not yet reached its peak, but we are on that path. He himself has served six months in jail without any crime.
