Kh Asif makes nuclear threat to Israel

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Kh Muhammad Asif tweeted a veiled nuclear threat on Israel, apparently after taking affront at a fake news article where Israel purportedly warned Pakistan against meddling in Syria.

“Israeli def min threatens nuclear retaliation presuming pak role in Syria against Daesh. Israel forgets Pakistan is a Nuclear state too,” the Pakistani minister tweeted Friday.

Israel Radio said on Saturday that Asif was responding to a fake news story on the website AWDnews.com, which falsely reported that Israel responded to a Pakistani promise to send troops to Syria with a threat of nuclear attack.

The unfounded story even mistakenly attributes the threat to Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon who left the Defense Ministry in May and was replaced by Avigdor Liberman.

Israel has never publicly confirmed or denied possessing nuclear weapons, nor issued threats to use nuclear weapons. It would be beyond unlikely for it to brazenly threaten Pakistan that “we will destroy them with a nuclear attack,” as the report claimed that Ya’alon did on Tuesday.

Such ostensible comments by Ya’alon would have caused major headlines worldwide. Kh Asif’s tweet was roundly criticized on Twitter, with many asking him to act in a more responsible manner.

“Oh Khawaja Saab, It’s a Fake News From Fake News Outlets. Act Like a Defense Minister,” wrote one commentator. It’s not the first time Asif has brandished country’s N-arsenal. In September, he threatened to use tactical N-weapons against India.