Political leadership is scared, army chief has to give statement, says Imran

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday alleged that Pakistan's political leadership was scared, which was why the army chief had to respond to US President Donald Trump's statement.

"They have their looted billions of dollars abroad and that is why they are afraid of responding to the US president’s speech," he said while talking to media persons here. Imran came hard on Trump and said he had no understanding of Afghanistan and the region. He pointed out that no Afghan was involved in the 9/11 attacks in the United States and that there was no terrorist outfit in Pakistan at that time. He emphasised that Pakistan participated in this war at the behest of the US, adding that “it wasn't our war".

Imran noted that Trump was using the same rhetoric against Pakistan as was used by India and regretted that the government didn't defend Pakistan's case. He contended that neither the prime minister nor the foreign minister issued a statement in response to Trump's speech and acknowledged that China came to Islamabad’s defence.

Instead of acknowledging Pakistan’s sacrifices, he lamented, the US was hurling threats and this was because of failure of our foreign policy.  "A unanimous message should be conveyed that civilian and military leadership in the country are on the same page; a joint session of parliament should also be summoned over the US threat," he emphasised. He said instead of defending Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi should push for a joint sitting of parliament to thrash out Pakistan’s foreign policy.

Imran said the US had made India a stakeholder in Afghanistan and urged the prime minister to convey a strong message to Washington in this connection. He added that New Delhi was using the Afghan soil to carry out terrorist acts in Pakistan.

Imran pointed out that India had been given a new role in Afghanistan and that Donald Trump had no understanding of the region. "Trump has no idea as to who is the real terrorist and what are the issues (in Afghanistan)," he claimed. "I still say it even today that we should not have participated in this war," he added.

Imran said that Israeli and Indian lobbies were active throughout the world against Pakistan’s nuclear programme and Trump’s statement was also part of all this. The PTI chief said that while Pakistan has rendered sacrifices and fought a war "that is not ours," India has been asked to get involved even though it does not share a border with Afghanistan.

"Pakistan got involved in the (war) even though not a single Pakistani was involved in 9/11. Al-Qaeda was in Afghanistan. It was not necessary for (Pakistan) to get involved in this war, being not at fault," Imran said.

Imran again questioned why Pakistan was being held responsible for America's policy failures in Afghanistan. "Over 150, 000 Nato soldiers were deployed in Afghanistan, billions were spent, thousands of Afghans were killed. The world's most powerful military machinery could not control (the situation in Afghanistan) and Pakistan is being held responsible for these failures," he regretted.

He wondered what America would accomplish by deploying thousands more troops in Afghanistan when those already stationed there had not been able to win the war. Imran referred to Trump's statement that "billions and billions" of dollars had been spent on Pakistan. He said that the amount spent by Washington on Pakistan was minuscule in comparison to the losses Pakistan had suffered in the war against terror.

Imran said the PTI had filed an adjournment motion in the National Assembly for discussion on Trump’s speech.