Pakistan’s Khawaja Asif Trips Over His Words: ‘US’s Dirty Job…Students Are Second Line of Defence’

Last Updated:May 09, 2025, 17:12 IST

Amid tensions with India, Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif admitted that madrassa students are their ‘second line of defence’.

Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif made the statement on Friday during his address to the National Assembly.

On one hand Pakistan has been launching unprovoked attack on India, on the other hand its Defence Minister has been giving fodder to critics with his bizarre statements. After facing backlash for ‘got to know from social media’ remark, Khawaja Asif on Friday claimed that since since India’s drone attack was to “detect the locations of Pakistan’s air defence units”, the Pakistan Army “did not intercept” them as it “did not want to leak its locations”.

“The drone attack was mounted to detect our locations. It’s a technical thing that I can’t explain. We didn’t intercept the drones, so that the location of our aerial defence units won’t get leaked,” Asif said during his address to the National Assembly (Pakistani equivalent of the Indian Parliament).

Many found his statement absurd as India has clearly stated that it targeted only the terrorist infrastructure with airstrikes on nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). This came in response to Pakistani terrorists gunning down 26 civilians near Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir.

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Asif didn’t stop there, and reportedly went on to admit that madrassa students are their “second line of defence”. This triggered social media users to point out that India has “long warned the world”. “Pak’s madrassas aren’t just schools they’re terror nurseries in disguise. The truth is now spoken from their own ranks,” an X user wrote.

Here Are Other Controversial Statements By Khawaja Asif

• Barely two days ago, Khawaja Asif was subjected to brutal troll, including in Pakistan’s National Assembly, when he said that he got to know about Pakistan shooting down five Indian fighter jets “through social media“.

• Earlier in April, Asif admitted that Pakistan harbours terrorists because it was doing the US and British intelligence’s “dirty work“. A journalist had asked him if he agreed that Pakistan has a long history of “supporting, training, and funding terrorist organisations”. Asif responded: “Yes, we have been doing this dirty work for America and the West, including Britain, for the last three decades.”

• Amid the latest controversies, Asif’s 2023 statement also surfaced on social media, where he says that women believe in gender equality so “they should face these filthy remarks like men do”.

Trolls have again started attacked Pakistan’s defence minister, while some posted memes, others demanded his removal.

“We strongly demand the immediate removal of Khawaja Asif from his position as Defence Minister due to his recent irresponsible interviews on international media and his immature tweets, which have brought embarrassment to Pakistan and its people. This important ministry requires a competent and mature individual who can represent the country with dignity and responsibility,” wrote X user @KazimiNadir.

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