US State Department deputy spokesperson Jalina Porter has said that the United States welcomed the statement issued by Pakistan’s National Security Committee (NSC) a day ago wherein it dismissed an impression of a “foreign conspiracy” to topple the Imran Khan-led government.
The senior US official made this statement in response to a question from a journalist during a weekly press briefing.
“Today, the newly-elected prime minster of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, chaired the meeting of national security committee and senior military and civil officers attended that. And this meeting was to — about Imran Khan’s allegation of US government. So the press release we got, it states that the (inaudible) concludes that there has been no foreign conspiracy. How do you see this?” the journalist had asked.
“… We welcome this statement,” Porter replied.
“There is absolutely no truth to those rumours, so we welcome this statement,” Jalina responded to a question asking her to comment on NSC’s statement.
She continued by adding, “The United States values our longstanding cooperation with Pakistan and has always viewed a strong, prosperous, and democratic Pakistan as critical to US interests.”
The National Security Committee, in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, found NO evidence of ‘conspiracy’. The meeting was also attended by Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
“The National Security Committee was again informed by the premier security agencies that they have found no evidence of any foreign conspiracy,” reads the statement issued after NSC meeting.
The meeting was attended by federal ministers – Khwaja Asif, Rana Sanaullah, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Ahsan Iqbal, Minister of State on Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar,Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Nadeem Raza, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahamd Babar and senior civil and military officials.
