US State Dept again side steps question on Imran

KARACHI: The US State Department has once again avoided directly addressing questions about former prime minister Imran Khan’s imprisonment, with spokesperson Tammy Bruce declining to comment on “the internal frameworks of another country” when pressed during a Wednesday briefing.

Responding to a journalist’s query on whether President Donald Trump would take action regarding Khan’s incarceration, Bruce redirected attention to broader US foreign policy concerns

Bruce was asked the question by a journalist representing a Pakistani newspaper during the State Department press briefing on Wednesday. The journalist had asked whether US President Trump would take “some sort of action” pertaining to Imran Khan being jailed as “the most popular leader with the majority number of seats in parliament”.

The journalist also went on to elaborate that in the last two years Pakistan’s democracy, women’s rights etc had been “shattered”, asking the State Department spokesperson if the new US administration would do anything since “thousands of his new voters in the US and millions of Pakistanis” are expecting [Trump] to take action.

Without directly mentioning Pakistan, Imran Khan or anything related to the country, Tammy Bruce categorically stated that she was “not going to comment on the internal frameworks of another country”.

Adding that it has been eight weeks since Trump took office, she said “a lot is going on” and anything regarding the US president’s “intentions and actions” can be found out by “reaching out to the White House”.

The spokesperson then seemed to veer off on a tangent and said that both Trump and US Secretary of State Rubio have “made it clear” that “we care about the planet. We care about our neighbours. We care about what’s happening on the globe. And that’s been evidenced by our actions”.

This is the second time in two weeks that the US State Department spokesperson has avoided giving a direct response to a question about the imprisonment of party founder Imran Khan. Earlier on March 6, during a media briefing, a clarification had been sought on the expected support for Imran Khan from US President Donald Trump, but the spokesperson had then too chosen to sidestep the question.