Fawad says met US envoy

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Senior Vice-President Fawad Chaudhry said Thursday night he had a meeting with US ambassador and other senior officials and both sides focused on the worsening human rights situation in Pakistan.

“Had a good meeting with US ambassador and senior officials. The worsening HR situation in Pak was a particular focus of discussion,” said the former information minister on his Twitter account. Fawad said he apprised the US officials of PTI concerns on misuse of anti-terrorism and blasphemy laws by the PDM government against political opponents. He wrote that the political situation and PTI position on various issues came under discussion. He said such meetings are part of mutual desire to have relationship based on equality and well being of people.

The PTI leader’s meeting with American diplomats took place within three days of the U-turn taken by the party chairman and ex-premier Imran Khan on his long-standing position of blaming the US for regime change and ouster of his government in April last year.

For a long time, Imran Khan, who was shown the door through a no-confidence motion in April last year, had been claiming that the US backed the regime change because it wanted to have military bases in Pakistan and use the country once again to meet its foreign policy objectives in the region and beyond.

The PTI chairman has been alleging during his public rallies, media interactions and on other occasions that the US and its assistant secretary of state Donald Lu were behind his government’s ouster and even he had demanded sacking of the US diplomat for hurling threats on the country.

But to the astonishment of many, in an interview with the Voice of America, he took a step backward and claimed that the former chief of the army staff (COAS) had close ties with PM Shehbaz Sharif and they conspired and as a result the regime change took place.

Even before this interview, the PTI leadership had been interacting with US diplomats.