'Should've been flown out of US in 30 mins': Asim Munir's anti-India rhetoric questioned by ex-Pentagon official

Former Pentagon official Michael Rubin on Tuesday sharply criticised Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir's inflammatory comments on India during the latter's speech at Tampa (Florida) a day ago.

Calling Munir's anti-India rhetoric “completely unacceptable”, he likened it to statements previously made by the Islamic State and Osama Bin Laden, as per an ANI interview. "Asim Munir is Osama Bin Laden in a suit," he said.

ALSO READ | How did India react to Asim Munir's 'jugular vein', 'nuclear nation' comments made in the US?

“Within 30 minutes of when Asim Munir made those comments, he should have been ushered out, taken to Tampa International Airport, and flown out of the United States,” Rubin stated, questioning why US officials present at the meeting (where the remarks were made) did not react.

Asim Munir, in his second official visit to the US, had made a number of incendiary statements—a threat to destroy any dam India would build in the Indus river, a mention of Kashmir as Pakistan's “jugular vein”, and Pakistan being a nuclear nation that would take “half the world down” with it if it were attacked by India.

Warning that letting Pakistan's comments go unchecked could provide cover for terrorist elements to go rogue with nuclear arsenals, he urged that Pakistan be stripped of its status as a non-NATO ally, and potentially labelled a state sponsor of terrorism. He also suggested that Asim Munir be designated persona non grata and banned from obtaining US visas.

He also went a step further, controversially suggesting that the international community should consider allowing a “managed decline” of Pakistan, potentially by recognising Balochistan or even US military intervention to secure Islamabad's nuclear arsenal.

ALSO READ | Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir says he is waiting for India to build a dam on Indus River to blow it up

Munir's comments come a day after Indian Air Force (IAF) Chief Air Marshal A.P. Singh's announcement regarding Operation Sindoor, in which the latter claimed that six Pakistani aircraft had been downed during the operation (and the 88-hour hostilities that followed).

India has since issued a statement, calling Munir's anti-India rhetoric “nuclear sabre-rattling” characteristic of Pakistan.

"It is also regrettable that these remarks should have been made from the soil of a friendly third country," the MEA statement added.

World