logo
When Questioned On India's Strike, Pakistan's Khawaja Asif Fumbles: 'Can't Hear...'

When Questioned On India's Strike, Pakistan's Khawaja Asif Fumbles: 'Can't Hear...'

News1810-05-2025

Last Updated:
Asif's interaction on international platform hasn't gone down well with his political colleagues as well, with a woman MP advising that he shouldn't go live on air.
A new morning and a fresh fodder by Khawaja Asif to the social media trolls. This time Pakistan's defence minister was seen fumbling on a news channel when asked for proof on India's strike. 'I can't hear you properly," Asif said clumsily.
May be there was a technical issue or a network issue, and Pakistan's defence minister couldn't really make out what the anchor was asking him. But then, Asif's image and his recent statements amid India-Pakistan tension leave less scope for doubt.
Asif's interaction on international platform hasn't gone down well with his political colleagues as well. While one criticised his 'got to know from social media" comment, a woman MP said, 'Don't go live on international platforms if you can't defend you country. At least don't mock your state."
ऐसे कौन पेलता है बहन, वो भी अपने ही मंत्रियों को! 😂 pic.twitter.com/d0qoI0nutd — Kapil Jain (@kapiljaink3) May 9, 2025
An X user, @rakeshmosa17314, said that he used a trick similar to Asif's during his 'major project presentation". Another user said that the minister needs hiring aid.
A retired Pakistan army officer a day ago warned his country to rethink against attacking India as they have mere six lakh soldiers. But beyond the physical strength, a look at how India and Pakistan have recently projected themselves on international forums says a lot more than meets the eye.
While social media users are having a field day with Khawaja Asif's statements, India's envoy to US, Vinay Kwatra, received applause. When a CNN anchor asked Kwatra if it is a religious war between Pakistani Muslims and Indian Hindus, the envoy answered, 'It's India's attack on terrorists who killed our civilians."
Meanwhile, Asif was responded with a sharp reaction by CNN anchor Becky Anderson. When he said that he got to know about Indian missiles being shot down in Pakistan through social media, Anderson quickly interjected, saying, 'I'm sorry, we didn't ask you here to talk about social media content. I'm asking specifically for the evidence, details. For example, was any Chinese equipment used to down these Rafale jets, as I understand you are alleging to be?"
Days before this Pakistan's defence minister sent shockwaves when he admitted on Sky News that their country has a history of supporting, training and funding terrorist organisations as 'dirty work" for the West.
'You do admit, sir, that Pakistan has had a long history of backing and supporting and training and funding these terrorist organisations," the anchor reconfirmed.
'Well, we have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades, you know, and the West, including Britain," replied Asif.
First Published:
May 10, 2025, 14:11 IST

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

R&D? Rarely
R&D? Rarely

Time of India

time43 minutes ago

  • Time of India

R&D? Rarely

Dependence in critical areas makes the nation vulnerable. Strategic interest must prevail over economic sense Germany's crude reserves are so small, they won't last three months in an emergency. So how did Hitler wage war for five years? By turning coal into petrol. Over 92% of the Luftwaffe's aviation fuel was synthetic. As the world grapples with China's rare earth curbs, there's a useful lesson here. While the rare earths crisis that started with China's export curbs on April 4 may be blowing over – Trump announced on Truth Social yesterday, 'Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China' – it will have a once-bitten-twice-shy effect. Over the past few weeks, Western carmakers have considered producing cars minus some components that use rare earths. At home, Maruti's had to scale back production plans for its first EV due to a global shortage of rare earth magnets. As our second Op-Ed explains, these magnets contain about 25% of a rare earth element called neodymium. It's one of the so-called 'light' rare earths that are available in India, but we don't produce enough of it because cheap Chinese supplies made investment in this area unattractive. While you can make motors without rare earths, other devices like TV screens, computers and MRI machines can't do without them. That's why India needs to build a large rare earths industry. And with the world's fifth largest rare earth reserves, it's well-placed to do so. Likewise, it needs to end its dependence on China for 70% of active pharmaceutical ingredients or APIs, because while buying from the cheapest supplier makes economic sense, it's a strategic risk. The aim must be to reduce dependence because dependence, especially in critical products, is vulnerability. About 90% of our crude is imported. An electric future will take care of that, but not if it means 100% dependence on China for lithium batteries. To find alternatives – like Germany's WW-II 'synfuels' – we need big investments in R&D, which is not our strong suit. As a nation, we invest only 0.6% of our $4tn GDP in research. China invests 2.4% of $18tn, US 3.5% of $29tn. And our private sector is even stingier, accounting for only a third of the national R&D spend, as against 70% in US and S Korea. The rare earth crisis is a brief distraction, the real issue is India's rare investment problem, and it needs national attention now. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.

Increase in anti-dumping duty by U.S. on Indian shrimp a cause for concern
Increase in anti-dumping duty by U.S. on Indian shrimp a cause for concern

The Hindu

timean hour ago

  • The Hindu

Increase in anti-dumping duty by U.S. on Indian shrimp a cause for concern

Andhra Pradesh has requested the Government of India (GoI) to solve the problem caused by an increase in anti-dumping duty imposed by the U.S. on Indian shrimps from 1.35% to 3.96% with retrospective effect from 2023-24, which entails a burden of ₹600 crore on seafood exporters from the State. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, AP Legislative Assembly Deputy Speaker and State Aquaculture Advisory Committee (SAAC) member K. Raghu Ramakrishna Raju and AP State Aquaculture Development Authority (APSADA) Co-Vice-Chairman Anam Venkata Ramana Reddy said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu requested the Union Ministers of Finance, and Industry & Commerce to resolve the issues faced by seafood exporters in India by diplomatically engaging with the shrimp importing countries, particularly the U.S. He insisted on inclusion of harmonised system codes of Indian shrimp under the exemption list in order to protect the livelihood of lakhs of farmers and workers, and prevent the collapse of the sector that significantly contributed to the Gross State Domestic Product. SAAC recommendations They said the SAAC studied the issues that cropped up after the U.S. imposed the reciprocal tariffs on seafood exports from India, and came up with short, medium and long-term strategies for sustainability of the sector. The short-term measures included a reduction in the input costs such as lowering the power tariffs, waiver of import duties on brood-stock and feed to ease production pressure, waiver of 5% GST on packaged shrimp to unlock local consumption, stabilising farm gate prices, securing access to the European Union (EU) and small markets, enhancing export compliance by ensuring strict implementation of traceability for the sake of reducing export rejections, and leveraging re-export potential by activating fish re-export hubs and streamlining the port clearances. Mr. Ramakrishna Raju said the medium-term strategies recommended were to enforce 100% registration of farms, tackle trade barriers, promote cluster farm management, and expand product lines by incentivising ready-to-eat / cook shrimp for premium global markets. The long-term strategies included achieving brood-stock sufficiency, species and market diversification, and strengthening bio-security institutional reforms quality compliance. Mr. Venkata Ramana Reddy said the department had completed geo-tagging of all the existing 2.07 lakh aquaculture ponds and 3,800 aquaculture business units in the State and assigned 11-digit unique codes. A traceability app intended to create a digital platform with a central dashboard, real-time monitoring and analytics was in the process of development. APIIC Chairman M. Rama Raju was among others present.

Indian govt report in 2022 foresaw China rare earth export crisis
Indian govt report in 2022 foresaw China rare earth export crisis

Hindustan Times

timean hour ago

  • Hindustan Times

Indian govt report in 2022 foresaw China rare earth export crisis

As Indian manufacturers are scrambling to deal with supply-chain disruptions caused by China's restrictive policies on the export of rare earth metals, in many of which it has a near monopoly, experts are pointing to an early warning of this — in a 2012 strategy paper prepared by a steering committee headed by the then mines secretary Vishwapati Trivedi after a similar crisis caused after Beijing restricted supplies of the critical materials that are needed in the auto, space and clean energy industries. Also Read: 'China deal done': US to lower tariffs to 55%, allow Chinese students for higher ed Back then, they added, India felt the heat of Chinese squeeze and on August 9, 2011, the government set up an 11-member steering committee to develop a strategy paper on status and availability of rare earth elements (REE) and energy critical elements (ECE). The committee was chaired by the mines secretary and co-chaired by chairman of the Centre for Study of Science Technology (C-STEP). Members included senior officials and experts from the Department of Science & Technology (DST), the Geological Survey of India, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), the Department of Atomic Energy, the Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO) and the chairman of India Rare Earth Ltd. Also Read: China can't afford double standards in fight against terror: S Jaishankar The forward of the committee's report titled ''Rare Earths and Energy Critical Elements: a Roadmap and Strategy for India', published in July 2012, said: 'In view of the increased demand of REE and near monopoly of supply from China, there is a need to develop national policies and implementation strategies for ensuring indigenous supply of REE… A Steering Committee was constituted by the ministry of mines with the ultimate intention of preparing a strategy paper for the government, providing short, medium and long term options along with proposals for specific policy & legislative interventions.' Also Read: 'Gratitude to Indian Navy': China on rescue of crew aboard cargo ship which caught fire off Kerala coast The report was blunt about Beijing's approach. 'China has been the major supplier of rare earths all over the world. Even though it has only 37% of global RE resources, it has captured the worldwide market to the extent of 97%. The low cost and efficient production process enabled China to monopolize the rare-earth market, forcing rare earth operations around the world to close down. Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IREL), which was once a leader in export of rare earth compounds had to shut down its operation in 2008,' the report added. 'Over the last couple of years China has imposed restrictions and curtailed its export by over 30% citing domestic demands as the reason. This unexpected decline has restarted rare earth operations once again throughout the world,' the report said. The same thing is happening again. Indian industries are suffering due to shortage of the critical minerals. According to a Reuters report published in Hindustan Times on Wednesday, automobile majors such as Maruti Suzuki have cut near-term production targets because of rare earth shortages. 'Government departments, particularly the ministry of commerce and industry, are holding hectic meetings with industry and other stakeholders to resolve the supply crisis. Government is using diplomatic channels asking Beijing to relax supply curbs for the Indian industries,' one of the people mentioned in the first instance said. The ministries of mines, commerce and external affairs did not respond to an email query on this matter. China's curbs on exports of rare earth materials have been officially raised through diplomatic channels by India, especially in view of the impact on manufacturers of electric vehicles, people familiar with the matter said. The issue reportedly figured in a meeting between Indian ambassador Pradeep Rawat and China's vice foreign minister Sun Weidong in Beijing on June 5. 'China's move was primarily aimed at the US and the impact on India was collateral damage. We are hopeful that the matter will be resolved soon,' one of the people said. It is not clear how China's deal with the US —the two countries reached a framework agreement that will now have to be approved by their respective Presidents —will affect this. The matter is expected to figure in discussions during a visit to India by Sun Weidong, a former Chinese ambassador to New Delhi, beginning on Thursday, the people said. Sun is visiting India to continue discussions with foreign secretary Vikram Misri aimed at normalising bilateral ties following the end of the military face-off in the Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) last October. Auto manufacturers affected by the curbs on rare earth exports too have sought to reach out to Chinese authorities but without much success so far, the people said. Two days after India and China reached an understanding on withdrawing forces from the two remaining 'friction points' on the LAC last October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping met in the Russian city of Kazan and agreed to revive several mechanisms to restore normalcy in ties and to address the long-standing border dispute.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store