Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan: Defying US policy led to my downfall
Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has accused the United States of running a conspiracy in his country that eventually led to the toppling of his democratically-elected government.
In an exclusive interview with Newsweek published on Saturday, the cricket star-turned-politician who leads the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, accused the West of double standards, saying his defiance of US policy led to the fall of his government and his removal from office last year.
The ex-PM said The Americans were unhappy with his independent foreign policy and his visit to Russia, and it created a springboard for political forces within the country to sway Washington to portray him as an enemy of the US.
He pointed out that the United States was behind a “conspiracy” to oust him in a regime change, and that he had written evidence attesting to this. “The US came into it thinking as I’m someone anti-American.”
“For some reason, if you don’t agree with the US foreign policy, you turn anti-American,” he noted.
Khan, who advocates what he describes as his own brand of non-aligned policy in international affairs, is largely confined to his residence in Lahore after his ouster last April following a no-confidence vote in parliament.
So far, he has been spared from prison despite multiple court judges as he faces a slew of charges lodged against him since Shahbaz Sharif succeed him as the Pakistani Prime Minister.
The charges filed against him range from corruption to terrorism and even murder.
In all cases, he has maintained his innocence and accuses the Sharif administration along with the influential armed forces of the country of pursuing a concerted campaign to sideline him by crushing his party and keeping the PTI out of the upcoming elections slated for October.
Khan said ex-Army Chief Qamar Javad Bajwa and his successor General Asim Munir justify his undemocratic removal from office by claiming that he was “dangerous.”
“He claimed I was dangerous for Pakistan. And they gave some other reasons, too.”
Khan also said that his main concern was the future of Democracy in Pakistan.
“I’m not really that worried about my own fate, because that’s secondary. The main thing is the future of Pakistan, which is what I’m worried about. Because I really fear now that this path which we are being taken on, there is nothing but darkness ahead. Because, apart from anything else, our whole democracy is being dismantled.”
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