Pakistan should delink itself from US in ‘war on terror’: Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan said that he had opposed Pakistan’s stance on joining US for war against terror from the start.

In response to US President Donald Trump’s tweet about Pakistan not doing enough according to the aid that it has been receiving, Imran stated it actually has been Pakistan that has been incurring loss.

“The losses suffered by Pakistan as a result of on-going US-led war on terror, which has also bred more violence and terror in Pakistan, have been enormous: our society has been radicalized and polarized; we have suffered 70 thousand dead and over $100 billion in losses to the economy,” said Khan.

He further stated that Pakistan should not have involved itself in proxy wars on US orders.

“The time had come to stand firm and give a strong response to the US. Two immediate measures can be taken by Pakistan to send an unambiguous message to the US: One, we must immediately remove excessive US diplomatic, non-diplomatic and intelligence personnel from Pakistan so that diplomatic parity is established accordingly to international legal norms governing diplomatic relations between states. Two, we must deny the US GLOC and AIRLOC facilities which we were providing free of cost to the US,” the statement reads.

Khan reiterated the need for Pakistan to fight war on terror, but holistically and for its own benefits.

He proposed the merger of FATA into KP with immediate effects in order not to create a vacuum that ‘will give the hostile powers and their terrorist proxies’ space to wreak havoc in Pakistan through FATA.’

Disregarding the US narrative of Pakistan ‘do more’, Khan said that Pakistan should delink itself from the US, as the latter’s aim is to target Pakistan while giving India an increasing strategic sole in Afghanistan and the region.