New Delhi, September 2: India has been saying this all along. The world has acknowledged it for long. But a Pakistani government has always shied away from saying it. That Pakistan Army is the boss of the Pakistan government in the country. Now Imran Khan’s minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has openly admitted that he was appointed by the Pakistan Army for speaking on “war” with India.
Speaking at Nankana Sahib, a religious town for the Sikhs, Pakistan’s Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed said, “I speak about war because the agenda of [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi is to destroy Pakistan. The army has kept me here to speak on the preparations for war. I am saying it with utmost responsibility that Pakistan has smart bombs.”
A senior minister in the Imran Khan government, Rasheed said Pakistan has atom bombs of smaller sizes weighing between 125 grams and 250 grams, which can be used to target India.
This is the same language that the Pakistan Army has been speaking to threaten India over the years. All the civilian governments proposing a peaceful relationship with India have faced the wrath of the Pakistan Army that never shelves its political ambition in country that has seen four military coups.
Pakistan Army directly ruled Pakistan in three phases, 1958-1971, 1977-1988 and 1999-2008. Plus, the army was also the de facto ruler between 1953 and 1956 — a total of nearly 38 years of direct military rule out of 72 years of existence.
A Pakistani government’s Kashmir and hence India policy has always been dictated by the Pakistan Army. In Imran Khan, the Pakistan Army has got a willing collaborator unlike some of his predecessors.
