Washington/New Delhi: “Asim Munir is Osama Bin Laden in a suit and should be persona non grata in the USA,” former Pentagon official Michael Rubin has said after the Pakistan Army chief threatened to ‘take down’ half the world in a nuclear strike.
Munir had said this in Tampa, Florida, while addressing an event in which US officials were present.
Rubin said that that Islamabad was behaving like “a rogue state” and noted that Munir’s recent remarks were reminiscent of what the world has heard from the Islamic State.
While there has been no official condemnation from Washington, India has issued a strong statement.
“Our attention has been drawn to remarks reportedly made by the Pakistani Chief of Army Staff while on a visit to the United States.
Nuclear sabre-rattling is Pakistan’s stock-in-trade.
The international community can draw its own conclusions on the irresponsibility inherent in such remarks, which also reinforce the well-held doubts about the integrity of nuclear command and control in a state where the military is hand-in-glove with terrorist groups.
It is also regrettable that these remarks should have been made from the soil of a friendly third country.
India has already made it clear that it will not give in to nuclear blackmail. We will continue to take all steps necessary to safeguard our national security,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs has said.
“Pakistan’s threats on American soil are completely unacceptable,” Rubin said while pointing out that such threats could provide cover for terrorist elements to “go rogue” with nuclear weapons. He claimed that Pakistan represents a fundamentally different challenge from traditional diplomatic disputes.
“Americans look at terrorism through the lens of grievance…They don’t understand the ideological underpinnings of many terrorists. Asim Munir is Osama bin Laden in a suit,” he said.
Rubin further noted that Munir’s remarks are raising questions in many people’s minds about whether Pakistan can fulfil the responsibilities of being a state.
He suggested that the international community should consider allowing Pakistan to undergo what he termed a “managed decline,” potentially including recognition of breakaway regions such as Balochistan. He even raised the possibility of future military intervention to secure Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.
“It’s coming near time when, in a future administration, other SEAL teams should enter Pakistan to secure its nuclear weapons because the alternative is simply too great to bear,” Rubin said.
He doesn’t seem any reason why the USA should consider Pakistan a major non-NATO ally. “Pakistan should be the first major non-NATO ally to be listed as a state sponsor of terrorism, and should not be a member of the US Central Command anymore,” the former top official added.
Calling for a severe diplomatic action, he said: “Asim Munir should be persona non grata in the USA and never get an American Visa, along with any Pakistani official, till Pakistan explains itself and apologises.”