NEW DELHI: Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif was left visibly flustered throughout an interview with journalist Mehdi Hasan after being caught in a contradiction over his claims about former prime minister Imran Khan’s social media exercise.Within the trade, Asif first insisted that Khan was personally working his Twitter account from inside Adiala Jail, the place he has been imprisoned since August 2023. However when Hasan pressed him on earlier remarks suggesting that the account was managed from India, the minister struggled to defend himself.“He’s working a Twitter account from the jail cell,” Asif initially mentioned. Hasan interjected: “You mentioned he was working from India the opposite day… You mentioned India is controlling his Twitter account… You simply made two completely different allegations. Is it Imran in his jail cell or is it India?”Defence minister, showing unsettled, responded: “Both he’s working from the cell or he ought to a minimum of establish who is working the jail cell.” He went on to quote “intelligence sources” as the idea for his claims however refused to supply any proof. “The proof I can’t publicly disclose,” Asif mentioned. When Hasan requested why he would make such an allegation with out proof, Asif replied bluntly: “No, as a result of it’s there.” Pressed additional, he conceded, “Sure, based mostly on, clearly, intelligence. No one is stating it overtly.”The interview additionally touched on Pakistan’s overseas relations. Hasan pointed to information from the Stockholm Worldwide Peace Analysis Institute exhibiting that round 80 per cent of Pakistan’s weapons over the previous 4 years have come from China. He requested whether or not current strikes to deepen ties with Washington below Donald Trump, by way of mineral and crypto offers, risked jeopardising relations with Beijing.Asif disregarded the suggestion. “We’re not nervous about that as a result of it’s a time-tested relationship with China for the reason that late 50s… I’ll simply conclude it by saying that China isn’t nervous about our flirtations or no matter you name it.”Pressed on whether or not Pakistan’s strategic future lies with the US or China, Asif was unequivocal. “Prior to now, even in the present day and sooner or later additionally, China has been a really dependable ally, a really dependable supplier of arms of all types to us… Nearly a serious portion of our arms are from China, and our defence cooperation is growing. It’s way more strong than earlier than.” He added: “They’re dependable and they’re our neighbours. We share borders and we share the geography.”His remarks got here a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Military Chief Asim Munir met President Trump on the White Home.