Biden’s comments a slap on our foreign policy: Imran

PTI chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday said US President Joe Biden’s statement showed a total failure of the “imported” government’s foreign policy.

His remarks come after the American president on Thursday said Pakistan might be “one of the most dangerous nations in the world” as the country had “nuclear weapons without any cohesion”.

The ousted premier, who has long alleged a US conspiracy behind his government’s removal, tweeted that Biden’s statement also showed the “failure” of the incumbent government’s claims of a “reset” in relations with the US.

“Is this the “reset”? This government has broken all records for incompetence,” Imran added.

He maintained that his “greatest worry” – apart from the government leading the Pakistan to economic ruin and giving a licence to white-collar criminals to plunder it – was that the current rulers would also completely comprise the country’s national security.

The ex-premier questioned what information led Biden to reach “this unwarranted conclusion”, adding that as prime minister, he knew that Pakistan had “one of the most secure nuclear command and control systems” in the world.

He also asked “when has Pakistan shown aggression, especially post-nuclearisation” unlike the “US which has been involved in wars across the world”.

Read I'm ready to sacrifice life for 'real freedom': Imran

PTI Secretary General Asad Umar also took to Twitter to question if Biden was talking about the US when he spoke of a nuclear country without cohesion.

“After all his party is going after [ex-US president] Donald Trump for trying to subvert the constitution and steal the last presidential election,” he added.

Umar maintained that countries in “glass houses” should think before “throwing stones at others”.

PTI leader and former information minister Chaudhry Fawad tweeted that it seemed “as if President Biden wants to distract people from his declining reputation among the Americans” by making statements about Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

He demanded that Biden should retract his “irresponsible” statement about Pakistan.

Fawad added that the Pakistani government might be weak but its people were not.

Later while addressing a news conference, Fawad lashed out at Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, saying that it had been six months since he took charge of his post but had still learned nothing.

He claimed that the US president knew nothing about Pakistan’s nuclear programme and still had given a statement about it.

Fawad said the country’s nuclear programme was being run under the National and Command Authority.

He pointed out that there had been a nuclear reactor accident in the US.

He further said it had been reported frequently in India about uranium being stolen.

He claimed that India’s atomic programme was considered among the least safest ones in the world.

He added that Pakistan’s nuclear programme was considered among the safest ones in the world as there had been no accidents so far.

Fawad maintained that Biden’s statement was evidence why the PTI government was ousted.

“It’s easier to blackmail them [current rulers]. Apart from Imran Khan, nobody has condemned Biden’s statement,” he added.

PTI leader and former human rights minister Shireen Mazari demanded that the US president should apologise to the Pakistani nation for his “nasty remarks”, which she claimed came because his “regime change conspiracy is faltering”.

“A nuclear US is a threat for [the] world because you have no control over your nukes. B52 bomber takes off with 6 live nukes 2007 and no one knows for hours!” she added in a series of tweets.

She called the US an “irresponsible superpower with nukes” with a proclivity “to interfere globally with regime change agendas alongside militarising the oceans”.

She highlighted that the US was responsible for custodial torture in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and Bagram.

"Even your own people are not safe with gunmen going on killing sprees,” she added, asking Biden to “have some shame”.