Islamabad:
Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said that the recently signed Historical Defense Agreement of Pakistan with Saudi Arabia was not a reaction to the Israeli attack on Qatar, but the result of years of discussion and cooperation between the two nations.
In an interview with American-British journalist Mehdi Hasan, AIF said that Pakistan’s defense partnership with Saudi Arabia extends over five to six decades. “Our forces have been deployed in Saudi Arabia before, perhaps more than 4,000 to 5,000 at a given time, and they are still present on Saudi soil,” he noted.
He explained that the last agreement was intended to give an official structure to the partnership rather than to create a new one. “This agreement has only formalized defense relations for a long time. Earlier, it was based on certain transactions before,” he said.
With regard to nuclear policy, the Minister of Defense has reaffirmed Pakistan’s position on restraint. “After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, no nuclear power is favorable to the use of these weapons,” he said, adding that Pakistan remains attached to global peace standards.
Commenting on domestic politics, Asif said that Pakistan’s democracy had not yet matured but moved forward. “Our democracy is not the best, but we are on this path. I have been in prison for six months without any accusation,” he said.
