Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has alleged that more than 50 per cent of the bureaucrats in his country are buying real estate assets in Portugal with plan to acquire citizenship and settle there.
“These are well-known bureaucrats. Yet, after devouring billions of rupees, they are comfortably living a retired life,” wrote Asif.
One of the babus, who is close to former Punjab Chief Minister Usman Bazdur, received Rs 4 billion in ceremonial gifts at his daughter’s wedding, alleged the minister, saying it is a symbol of lavish lifestyle led by the bureaucrats through corruption.
Calling the act ‘shameful’, Asif said the bureaucracy is ‘polluting our land’.
The Pakistani minister said because of high-level corruption in bureaucracy, politicians only get the leftovers and “still get blamed for everything”. He added that politicians do not own plots or get foreign citizenship as they have to face elections.
Asif made headlines during Operation Sindoor when he claimed that he has proof that Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are “Indian proxies”. However, the Pakistani politician has not been able to prove any links between India and these militant outfits based in Pakistan. India back in May slammed Asif for trying to hoodwink the world, saying blaming India for its reputation as global epicentre of terrorism has become Pakistan’s “second nature”.
“India rejects the baseless allegations made by Pakistan regarding Indian involvement with the incident in Khuzdar,” Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said.
In another public blunder, the Pakistani defence minister went live on CNN during Operation Sindoor, claiming that the evidence of Pakistan downing Indian jets is all over the social media. CNN host Becky Anderson confronted Asif, reminding him that he is the defence minister of the country. “The reason to talk to you today, sir, is not to talk about content all over social media. I’m sorry,” she said.
