Khawaja Asif further said a former Pakistani ambassador from the previous PPP era, was active in Washington. Khawaja Asif also said the former ambassador and Indian lobby did not want Pakistan to attain F-16s from the United States. He also revealed the United States was ready to provide F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.
Speaking on the Saudi Arabia-Iran tensions issue, the Defence Minister said Pakistan was closest to Saudi Arabia. He also said the main purpose of the 34-state coalition was to project the Muslim community’s image in the true sense. He also said the coalition was not working against any particular country and that associating terrorism with Muslims was unjustifiable. He also said a large part of Pakistan’s defence agreements were with Saudi Arabia.
Talks with Saudi leadership encouraging:
Federal Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said that the talks between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Saudi leadership were encouraging.
Khawaja Asif said that the Pakistani delegation had received a positive response from Saudi Arabia during the visit.
The defence minister added that talks would be held with the Iranian officials in the same spirit.
Asif said that the aim of PM Sharif to visit the two Islamic countries is to defuse the tensions between them.
