Khawaja Asif says country has become ‘bankrupt’

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Saturday that the country had become bankrupt, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Addressing a convocation at a private college in Sialkot, he said sarcastically, “We are now living in a bankrupt country.”

“You must have been hearing that Pakistan is heading towards a default. The fact is the country has become bankrupt,” he said, and added, “However, the solution to our problems does not lie with the IMF, but with us.”

He went on to say that one-and-a-half-year ago, terrorists from the neighbouring country were brought to Pakistan and given a place here to settle. “But the question is who brought them here that now it appears as if ‘terrorism’ is our destiny,” he regretted. 

“We are responsible for this recent wave of terrorism because we brought anti-state elements to Pakistan, and claimed that now they had reformed themselves and would abide by the laws,” he said categorically. 

Talking about yesterday’s terror attack in Karachi, Asif said all night the valiant personnel of law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) kept fighting against the militants who had stormed the police center. 

And in a reference to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the defence minister said that the man who had raised his voice against all this was banished from the country. “And what we hear on TV channels has nothing to do with the truth,” he claimed.