NEW DELHI: Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh has said that it is an embarrassment for Pakistan that its Army Chief Amir Munir was invited for a meeting with US President Donald Trump and that the country's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was "nowhere to be seen" and that this also indicates "where the sort of power relationship lies" in Pakistan.
In an interview with ANI, the Defence Secretary said that Pakistan PM not being invited is a "very strange thing" for the country.
"I don't have any great opinion on this, but it's surprising. It must be an embarrassment to any country that the military chief gets invited and the prime minister is nowhere to be seen. It's a very strange thing," Singh said without taking any names while responding to a query about Asim Munir's meeting with the US President on Wednesday.
Singh also expressed surprise at Asim Munir's presence in Special Investment Facilitation Council in Pakistan, which makes economic decisions and said it's a structurally sort of imbalanced state where the military essentially has first claim on resources.
"I always found it very strange that this gentleman sits on something called the Investment Facilitation Council in Pakistan, which basically makes economic decisions. It's a weird, structurally sort of imbalanced state where the military essentially has first claim on resources, which is why, with a $370 billion economy, they are able to pre-empt resources from their pressing social and economic needs into this kind of conflict. But be that as it may, they are our neighbour, and we have to handle them in such a way that we establish some level of deterrence," Singh said.
Asked about his response to reports of Asim Munir's promotion to the rank of Field Martial, Singh said one accepted it "with a kind of mixture of bemusement and incredulity".
"Actually, in some of the circles, the feedback that I was getting actually did anticipate that something like this could happen. So, it was a kind of...how should I describe it? You accepted it with a kind of mixture of bemusement and incredulity in a way that such absurdity can happen, but that's the way it goes. You can actually award yourself essentially a field marshal," Singh said.
The Defence Secretary said that Asim Munir's presence and Pakistan PM Sharif's absence in the White House was indicative of the power dynamics in the neighbouring country.
"The fact that you are going to the White House, your prime minister is not there, but you are there, would indicate where the sort of power relationship lies. So, in a sense, he's awarded himself the field marshal, I guess," Singh said.