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Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir mocked for showcasing ‘rare earth minerals’ to Trump: ‘What a joke’
During a recent visit to Washington, Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir presented rare earth minerals to Trump, prompting criticism from senator Aimal Wali Khan.
Pakistani senator Aimal Wali Khan has lashed out at Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir for allegedly presenting rare earth minerals to former US President Donald Trump during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Washington visit, calling it a “mockery” and questioning under what authority the military chief was showcasing the country’s strategic resources.
Speaking in Pakistan's Parliament, Aimal Wali Khan accused Asim Munir of behaving “like a salesman” while Shehbaz Sharif looked on “like a manager watching the drama”.
Last week, Shehbaz Sharif and Asim Munir met Donald Trump in the White House.
“Our chief of army staff is roaming around with a briefcase containing rare earth minerals. What a joke! It was absolute mockery. Whoever saw that photo thought, ‘Which chief of the army staff would go around carrying a briefcase with rare earth minerals?’ To me, it looked like a big, branded store – a manager watched on happily as a shopkeeper tells a customer to purchase a big, glittery thing from him.”
He added, “In what capacity? Under which law? This is dictatorship. I am sorry to say this is not democracy...is this not contempt of parliament?” he added.
Earlier, Khan equated Munir presenting rare earth minerals to Trump to an “elite designer shop", highlighting his skepticism over the field marshal’s involvement in matters relating to strategic resources.
A White House photograph from Pakistan Sharif’s recent US visit showed Munir handing over a wooden box filled with rare earth minerals to Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
The trip marked Munir’s third to Washington since the May Pakistan-India conflict, which Trump has repeatedly claimed to have mediated.
Pakistan has even nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize for his alleged role in brokering peace. India, however, has rejected the claim, insisting the ceasefire talks were strictly bilateral.
Islamabad had sought a truce on May 10, four days after cross-border clashes erupted following India’s Operation Sindoor, launched in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 people.
On Tuesday, Trump repeated his claim that he ended the “very big” conflict between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.
Trump said the prime minister of Pakistan “was here along with the field marshal, who's a very important guy in Pakistan, and he was here three days ago. And I didn't even realise it, as beautiful as he said it, but he said that to a group of people that were with us, two generals, but a group, he said, ‘This man saved millions of lives because he saved the war from going on, and that war was going to get very bad, very, very bad. President Trump saved millions and millions of lives. That was a bad war’.”
Trump said he “was very honoured. I loved the way he (Munir) said it".
He added that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was there at the meeting too, and “she said that was the most beautiful thing. But we saved a lot of them. Saved a lot of them”.
