The United States (US) State Department restated its claim that there is no truth to the allegations that Washington was involved in a conspiracy to oust the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
The reiteration came on Sunday after media reports that PTI’s Secretary of the Office of International Chapters (OIC) Dr Abdullah Riar had contacted the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu and asked him to forget the past and move forward.
A US State Department spokesperson, when asked about Riar’s reported contact with Lu, said: “As a standard practice, we do not comment on private diplomatic meetings,” reports Dawn.
Imran Khan’s claim of the US involvement in ousting him reiterated: “As we have said before, there is no truth to these allegations.”
Khan wants to fix matters with America
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that there was evidence of a meeting of the PTI leader and an apology to the US government.
Speaking on Geo News’ programme ‘Naya Pakistan’, Khawaja Asif said: “We [the coalition government] have obtained all records regarding PTI’s apology to Lu. Evidence has been received regarding PTI leaders’ meeting with the US government where they tendered an apology.”
Asif said that Imran Khan has sent a message to America that we have made a mistake, he wants to fix matters with America and the process should start from where it was broken.
‘Let’s move on’: Is PTI trying to be friends with Donald Lu?
Reports suggest that Dr Abdullah Riar sent a message to Donald Lu.
According to media reports, Riar in a message to Lu has said, “Let’s move on.”
It is pertinent to mention here that Lu is the same person who has been accused by the PTI Chairperson Imran Khan of being behind the conspiracy to remove him from power. Khan accused Lu of using undiplomatic language to threaten his government in the wake of the no-confidence motion.
Khan in his interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson said that Lu should be sacked for his sheer arrogance.
The PTI chairman said that the US diplomat told Pakistan’s ambassador that unless “you get Imran Khan removed in a vote of no-confidence — which was not tabled but he seemed to know about it — Pakistan will suffer consequences”.
“And then goes on to say, of course, if you get rid of him through the vote of no-confidence, all will be forgiven — such arrogance […] by the way Becky, this guy should be sacked for bad manners and sheer arrogance,” said Khan.
