"Can Put Lipstick On Pig, But...": Ex-US Official Slams Pak Over J&K Attack
Ex-Pentagon official Michael Rubin likened Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir to the late Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, while pinning Pakistan for its role in the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.
Mr Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told ANI, "The only difference between Osama Bin Laden and Asim Munir is that Osama Bin Laden lived in a cave and Asim Munir lives in a palace, but beyond that, the two are the same, and their end should also be the same."
He added that the only response to the Pahalgam attack is the formal designation of Pakistan as a state sponsor of terror and of Asim Munir as a terrorist by the United States.
Mr Rubin used the "lipstick on a pig" rhetoric to elaborate that there should be no pretence that the Jammu and Kashmir attack was any sort of "spontaneous action". "As for the timing, just as there was a terrorist attack when Bill Clinton went to India, so too does it seem that Pakistan wants to draw attention away from Vice President JD Vance's trip to India," he said.
As the bodies of those who were killed in Tuesday's attack at the popular Baisaran meadow reached their hometowns and last rites were conducted, India announced a slew of diplomatic measures against Pakistan.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced the expulsion of Pakistani military attaches, suspension of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 and immediate shutting down of the Attari land-transit post in view of the cross-border links to the attack. He said the overall strength of the Pakistani and Indian high commissions will be brought down to 30 from the present 55 through further reductions, to be effected by May 1.
The foreign secretary said Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC visa exemption scheme (SVES) and any Pakistani national currently in India under it SVES visa has 48 hours to leave India. He added that "the defence, military, naval and air advisors in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi are declared persona non grata" and they have a week to leave India.
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