Pakistan PM Names ‘Foreign Power’ That Wants Him Toppled, Summons Its Ambassador

By Staff, Agencies

Pakistani PM Imran Khan ‘accidentally’ named the United States as the culprit when he claimed “a foreign country I can’t name” was eager to see him removed from his post via a no-confidence vote.

“America has – oh, not America but a foreign country I can’t name” sent the leader the message in an effort to meddle in his country’s politics, Khan said in a televised address on Thursday, after a no-confidence vote against him was rescheduled.

Khan received a briefing letter from the Pakistani ambassador to the US that included a recording of a senior official from Washington implying the relationship between the two countries would improve in Khan’s absence, local media reported on Thursday.

“They say that ‘our anger will vanish if Imran Khan loses this no-confidence vote’,” Khan said, describing the contents of the letter.

Soon after, Pakistan’s foreign office summoned the acting US charge d'affaires to lodge a strong protest over Washington’s meddling in the internal affairs of the country.

Pakistani media, citing diplomatic sources, said on Thursday that the senior US diplomat was handed over the protest note for the language used by an American official during a formal communication regarding a no-confidence motion in Pakistan’s parliament aimed at ousting Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The English-language Dawn newspaper said the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu, had in a meeting with Pakistan’s envoy Asad Majeed warned that there could be implications if Khan survived the opposition’s no-confidence motion on April 3rd.

A Pakistani foreign office official confirmed that a "demarche" was handed over to the acting US envoy in Islamabad, adding that Washington was told that the use of such undiplomatic language was unacceptable.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price insisted there was “no truth” to the allegations, claiming that Washington was “closely following developments in Pakistan” but that it “respect[ed] and support[ed] Pakistan’s constitutional process and the rule of law.”

It’s not the first time Khan has accused Washington of meddling in the country's internal affairs and trying to influence its policy decisions. He broached the issue at a Sunday rally where he sought to draw on supporters’ energy as his political opposition has attempted to oust him and reminded his supporters during Thursday’s broadcast that Pakistan had gotten nothing from supporting the US’ war on “terror” except a lot more terrorists and drone bombings.

Khan has refused to bow to American pressure and condemn Russia for sending troops into Ukraine, arguing Pakistan had nothing to gain by such a move. However, this has made him a target for the US and its allies, who are already upset that neighboring India has also refused to join their sanctions campaign against Moscow.