Pak foreign minister says Biden’s remarks not to affect US ties

LAHORE, Pakistan (AA) –Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said the US president’s statement about his country being one of the most dangerous is “strange,” and that he has discussed it with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

He said this while addressing a press conference in Karachi.

President Joe Biden had said on October 13 at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reception that Pakistan may be one of the “most dangerous countries in the world” because it had nuclear weapons without “cohesion.”

Bilawal added, however, that since the remarks were made at a private ceremony and not at an official public one, they should not have a negative impact on the relations between Pakistan and the US.

“I don’t believe it has a negative impact on the relations between Pakistan and the US. We will continue on the positive trajectory of engagements that we have so far,” said the foreign minister.

Pakistan’s nuclear program is in safe hands, and the country is a responsible state, he asserted.

“If there is any question about nuclear weapons, it should be with India,” Bilawal said, referring to the March 9 incident in which India “accidentally” fired a BrahMos missile from Sirsa, Haryana state, which crashed into the Mian Channu area of Khanewal district in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister and Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan, as well as a well-known geopolitical analyst and former ambassador to the US Maleeha Lodhi, strongly reacted to Biden’s remarks.

Khan inquired as to what information President Biden had gathered to reach this conclusion about their nuclear capabilities.

“Having been a Prime Minister, I know we have one of the most secure nuclear command and control systems,” he wrote on Twitter.

He also criticized US policies, claiming that the country has been involved in wars all over the world.

Following his defeat in a vote of no confidence in the National Assembly in April of this year, the ex-premier has been quite vocal in his opposition to US policies.

He has also described his dismissal as an “international conspiracy” orchestrated by the US. These claims, however, have been widely discredited both by his opposition at home as well as by the US.

Former ambassador Lodhi also criticized the US president’s remarks on Twitter, writing, “Totally gratuitous and unjustified comment about Pakistan’s nukes. US President needs to be briefed by his officials. He seems ignorant about the safety/security of Pakistan’s nukes.”