Even three years after becoming Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan seems to have little to no clue about his country's nuclear arsenal and remains unsure

Even three years after becoming the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan seems to have little to no clue about his country's nuclear arsenal and remains unsure on whether it is expanding. Alarmed, aware and in his words, 'worried' of India's size, the Pakistani PM has maintained that the nuclear arsenal is a 'deterrent' to protect his country.

In an interview full of sensational remarks surrounding rape, Afghanistan and his silence on China's atrocities against Uyghur Muslims, Prime Minister Imran Khan made another eye-catching comment as claimed that Pakistan would no longer need nuclear weapons once the 'Kashmir issue' is resolved. Repeating his rhetoric, Imran Khan said that the moment there is 'settlement' on Kashmir, both India and Pakistan would live as 'civilised people'. Moreover, he sought the United States' intervention to reach a solution even as India has repeatedly ruled out third-party mediators, asserting that any issue between India and Pakistan should be resolved bilaterally under the provisions of the Shimla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration.

In the interview with Axios, when asked if Pakistan's nuclear arsenal was expanding, PM Imran Khan said that he is 'not sure'. Emphasizing that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is not an offensive thing, the PTI chief said that he was completely against nuclear weapons.

"As far as I know, it's not an offensive thing. Any country which has a neighbour seven times its size would be worried," said Khan when posed with facts stating that Pakistan has the fastest-growing nuclear arsenal anywhere in the world. According to a study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Pakistan has 165 nuclear warheads as of January this year, which is five more than what it had last year.

Asked why he was so outspoken about Islamophobia in the West but silent about the alleged genocide of Uyghur Muslims in China's Xinjiang, Khan said that all issues were discussed with China "behind closed doors". "China has been one of the greatest friends to us in our most difficult times. When we were really struggling, China came to our rescue. We respect the way they are and whatever issues we have, we speak behind closed doors. I look around the world, what's happening in Palestine, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan. Am I going to start talking about everything? I concentrate on what is happening on my border, in my country," Khan said.

Pak PM Repeats Shocking Rape Justification Remark

In the same interview, the Pakistani PM cited women wearing 'few clothes' as the reason behind increasing sexual violence cases, his second such statement in the last two months. Justifying rapes by men, Imran Khan reasoned that women wearing fewer clothes leaves a 'temptation' on men which ultimately increases the cases of sexual violence.

"If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on the men, unless they are robots. It’s just common sense. It depends upon which society you live in. If in a society people have not seen those types of things it will have an impact on them. This cultural imperialism must be acceptable to everyone else," he said.

Imran Khan had made similar comments stating that the cases of sexual violence or rapes are a product of obscenity which he described as a 'Western Import'. During an interview earlier, the Pakistan Prime Minister was asked how his government plans to curb the rising cases of sexual violence, especially against children. On that, he had cited 'fahashi' (vulgarity) as the reason for the rise of rape and sexual violence in the country and went on to highlight the 'Purdah' system to remove the temptation because 'not everyone has willpower'.

NSA Ajit Doval To Share Stage With Pakistan Counterpart

Imran Khan's comments come just days before India's National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval's visit to Dushanbe where he will share the stage with his Pakistani counterpart. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting this week will see in-person participation of NSAs from the eight member nations unlike the virtual meeting last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The two NSAs will be sharing the aisle for the first time since Ajit Doval furiously stormed out of the SCO meeting last year following Pakistan's act of showing a 'fictious' map violating the agenda of the gathering. In a statement after the meeting, the External Affairs Ministry had said that the Pakistani NSA deliberately projected a fictitious map that Pakistan had been propagating.