ISLAMABAD
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq has said his country did not sell weapons for use by Ukraine in its war with Russia, calling reports of such sales a “confusion”.
In an exclusive interview with VOA, PM Kakar said Pakistan did not sell arms to the US for Ukraine. “We will investigate if it [Pakistan arms] has ended up somewhere else. But, as far as Pakistan is concerned our arms were not at all destined for either Ukraine or any other place for that matter,” Kakar elaborated.
A recent investigative report by a Pakistani online news platform Soch established a link between sale of Pakistani small arms and ammunition to two US companies and concluded, using publicly available procurement data, the items became part of Washington’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and ended up on the battlefield.
“We are just exploring that how this entire confusion has been created and what are the reasons behind those confusions,” Kakar said, claiming his government was already discussing this issue “on different diplomatic channels with the concerned authorities” in Washington.
Responding to an earlier VOA query on this matter, a spokesperson told VOA via email, “We don’t have anything for you on this.”
Asked if Pakistan would be safer after the mass expulsion Afghan nationals, Kakar said it was not a counterterrorism tactic. “We want to have a regulated movement interaction with the Afghanistan as a state. This is the prime target,” the premier said.
Kakar’s recent comments referring to the Taliban government as illegitimate sparked a controversy. Calling his choice of words unfortunate, Kakar told VOA he meant the de facto government was unrecognized. He said deciding the legitimacy of their government was up to the Afghan people.
Kakar denied Pakistan had ever supported the Afghan Taliban and dismissed reports of sheltering then-insurgent leaders as exaggerated. “Whenever next we have to choose and commit ourselves along with global powers in the regional wars we should mull over and deliberate more before making our choices,” Kakar said, complaining that Pakistan was incorrectly blamed for the outcome of the 20-year war while its human and economic sacrifices were not recognized.
Pakistan is home to the roughly $65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the flagship project in China’s global Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, as Beijing aims to protect the BRI from risks, Kakar rejected the notion that Pakistan’s political and economic instability and poor security environment was making the country less attractive for China. “Pakistan is a midsize market in itself. So, they do see Pakistan in isolation and in connectivity with the whole region.”
Kakar said the US and its allies had lost moral authority as Israeli strikes on alleged Hamas hideouts kill thousands of children in Gaza.
Responding to a question as to how he can ensure credible elections, Kakar said “What I am trying to do over here is, we should commit ourselves to the utmost transparency, to the utmost fair play in elections, to all the players and even then, after that, if we are criticized, we are OK with it.”
Kakar vehemently opposed the Supreme Court’s recent decision prohibiting their military trials of civilians. “Of course they (those involved in May 9 violence) should be tried in military courts. It has got nothing to do with, anything, the word of democracy,” Kakar asserted.
Kakar said it was fine if people protested outside political office, but those breaching military properties should face military courts. “Why people go towards the military installation?” he asked. “If they choose to do so, there are laws in every country and in this country, and they have to face the consequences of that.
