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‘Embarrassment for…’: Indian defence secretary on Donald Trump-Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir dinner meet
Pakistan army chief Asim Munir met US President Donald Trump in the White House earlier this week.
It is an embarrassment for Pakistan that its Army chief General Amir Munir was invited for a meeting with US President Donald Trump and its country's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was "nowhere to be seen", defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said.
In an interview with news agency ANI, Rajesh Kumar Singh said Munir's meeting with Trump in the White House is an indication "where the sort of power relationship lies" in Pakistan.
"I don't have any great opinion on this, but it's surprising. It must be an embarrassment to any country that the military chief gets invited and the prime minister is nowhere to be seen. It's a very strange thing," Singh said without taking any names while responding to a question about Asim Munir's meeting with Trump.
Singh also expressed surprise at Asim Munir's presence in the Special Investment Facilitation Council in Pakistan, which makes economic decisions.
“I always found it very strange that this gentleman sits on something called the Investment Facilitation Council in Pakistan, which basically makes economic decisions,” Singh told ANI.
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"It's a weird, structurally sort of imbalanced state where the military essentially has first claim on resources, which is why, with a $370 billion economy, they are able to pre-empt resources from their pressing social and economic needs into this kind of conflict. But be that as it may, they are our neighbour, and we have to handle them in such a way that we establish some level of deterrence," he added.
Asim Munir's meeting with Trump
Pakistan army chief Asim Munir met this week with US President Donald Trump in the White House at the latter's invitation.
After the meeting, Trump said he was “honoured” to meet Munir and thanked him for not entering the war with India, calling both nations “very smart” for avoiding conflict.
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He also confirmed that he discussed Iran with Munir during the meeting. “They (Pakistan) know Iran very well, better than most, and they’re not happy about anything,” Trump said. “They see what’s going on. And he agreed with me,” he added, without elaborating.
In a readout of the meeting, the Pakistan Army said Trump has expressed "keen interest" in developing a mutually beneficial trade partnership with Pakistan based on long-term strategic convergence and shared interests.
