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Who is operating Imran Khan's X account? Pak minister Khawaja Asif caught off guard in interview
Khawaja Asif Asif said that Pakistan is not worried that their “flirtatious” relationship with the US will jeopardize their ties with China.
Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif was caught off guard during an interview recently about his allegation that former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s X (formerly Twitter) was being operated from India. However, during a recent interview with British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan, Asif contradicted himself by claiming that Imran Khan was running his X account from Pakistan’s Adiala Jail.
When confronted over the contradiction, Pakistan’s defence minister was left flustered.
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Here’s what happened
In an interview, Hasan asked Asif about a recent court hearing of Imran Khan in which his lawyer claims the former PM had to join via WhatsApp, and the trial continued even though the judge and Khan could not hear each other. When asked whether it was a “fair trail”, Asif said, “That didn’t happen.”
“He (Imran Khan) is operating a Twitter (now X) account from Twitter, you know,” Asif claimed.
To this, Hasan immediately retorted with, “You said he was operating from India the other day. I saw you say that.”
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With no direct answer, Asif replied with, “What is the truth then?” and was met with a “you tell me” retort by Hasan.
“You made two different allegations,” the journalist said. “Is it Imran in his prison cell or is it India?”
Visibly rattled by this, Pakistan’s defence minister said, “Either he is operating from the cell or he should at least identify who is operating.”
When asked what evidence he has for making the claim that Khan’s account was being operated from India, Asif said that he “cannot publicly disclose the evidence”, to which Hasan asked then why make such a claim, and Asif said, “No, because it’s there”.
He also said that he is making the claim on the basis of “obviously, intelligence” and that “nobody is stating it openly."
Pak minister on ties with US, China
Asif also talked about Pakistan’s ties with US and China since the latter two countries are at “loggerheads”. Asif said that Pakistan’s relationship with China is “time-tested” and that Pakistan is not worried that their “flirtatious” relationship with the US will jeopardize their ties with China.
When asked who does Pakistan’s strategic relation in the future lies with, US or China, since it “can’t be with both”, Asif agreed and said, “In the past, even today and in the future also, China has been a very reliable ally, a very reliable provider of arms of all kinds to us. Our Air Force, submarines, and planes. Our submarines are from there. Almost a major portion of our arms are from China, and our defence cooperation is increasing. It is much more robust than before, with China... the main reason is the unreliability of other sources like the United States of America.”
