Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Saturday that foreign military bases in the Middle East were not built to shield Muslim countries, but mainly to serve the interests of outside powers and Israel.
Speaking at the annual convocation of the University of Central Punjab in Sialkot, he said parts of the Islamic world had wrongly assumed that hosting or relying on overseas bases would guarantee their safety. Security, he argued, has to come from a nation’s own capacity, not from foreign installations on its soil or in its neighbourhood.
Bases and self-reliance
Asif told the gathering that Pakistan had offered the Islamic world a different lesson: foreign military bases cannot protect host societies. “Pakistan has shown the Islamic world a new path: foreign military bases cannot protect you. They were perhaps never established for your protection, but to safeguard their own interests and protect Israel,” he said.
He stressed that states should build security through their own strength instead of depending on foreign military facilities.
Marka-e-Haq and diplomacy
Turning to Pakistan’s recent military confrontation with India, known as Marka-e-Haq, Asif said Pakistan had prevailed against an adversary five times larger, drawing international notice and lifting the country’s diplomatic standing. He said the world had recognised that Pakistan could face a much larger military power.
He credited Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir’s leadership and continued diplomatic work for strengthening Pakistan’s position abroad, and said the country’s diplomacy had entered a new phase after the confrontation.
Curriculum, history and past wars
Asif also said younger Pakistanis still know too little about the country’s history, blaming successive governments for rewriting the national curriculum. He claimed textbooks were changed to keep rulers in power and to drop historical facts that did not suit them.
Recalling Pakistan’s role in the US-led campaign in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union, he said the country had altered not only its curriculum but also its reading of religion to serve American interests. After Soviet forces left Afghanistan, he said, the United States walked away and left Pakistan to manage the fallout. Another undemocratic ruler later offered Pakistan’s services to Washington again, he added, and the country is still living with those consequences.
No government—including the present one—had shown the courage to undo those curriculum changes, he said. He noted that he had raised the issue repeatedly in the National Assembly and called correcting the curriculum a national duty.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif ne Sialkot mein kaha ke Middle East ke foreign military bases Muslim mulkon ki hifazat ke liye nahi, balkay bahar ki quwwaton aur Israel ke faiday ke liye banaye gaye. Unhone kaha ke mulk apni taqat se mehfooz rahein, kisi gair mulki fauji adey par bharosa na karein. Unhone Marka-e-Haq ka zikr kiya aur school books mein history badalne par bhi tanqeed ki. Aam shehri ke liye yeh baat yeh samajhne mein madadgar hai ke hukumat security aur taleem dono ko apne faislon se jor kar dekh rahi hai.
