The United States conveyed its apprehension regarding the possibility of election-related violence in Pakistan, a nation currently gearing up for upcoming polls in which former Prime Minister Imran Khan, presently incarcerated, has been barred from participating.
John Kirby, the spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, highlighted the U.S.’s unease about any actions that could lead to instability, especially violent actions, in Pakistan or any other nation with shared interests in counterterrorism efforts.
Talking to media, he underscored the importance of Pakistan as a partner, particularly in combating the counterterrorism threat within the region.
Kirby assured that the U.S. anticipated continued cooperation in this realm.
Earlier, the US State Department official termed Imran Khan’s arrest as an “internal matter” of Pakistan.
“We believe that is an internal matter for Pakistan,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a press briefing on last Monday, when asked whether the US thought Khan got a fair trial.
“At times there are cases (around the world) that are so obviously unfounded that the United States believes it should say something about the matter. We have not made that determination here,” Miller added.
However, Imran Khan, who is currently behind the bar and barred from contesting election for five years in Toshakhana case, blamed the US for ouster of his government which came to an end last year in April as a result of no-confidence motion against him in the National Assembly.
The United States denied this allegation, but Imran Khan and his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has continuously been harping on the narrative which today reiterated by a foreign media outlet while citing a leaked classified Pakistani government’s document which stated that “THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT encouraged the Pakistani government in a March 7, 2022, meeting to remove Imran Khan as prime minister over his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
This scribed does not verify the credibility of the alleged leaked official document and reported the matter as it was reported by the foreign media outlet.
