ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has expressed outrage at the US President Donald Trump’s accusations and threats to Pakistan to hide US failure in Afghanistan.
In a statement issued by the PTI Central Secretariat in Islamabad on Thursday, Imran Khan said that the Trump tweet, followed by US envoy to the US’s accusations, were not just unwarranted threats but deliberate attempts to humiliate and insult the Pakistani nation and the state.
Imran Khan pointed out that he had always opposed Pakistan fighting some else’s war – as a “gun for hire”. The losses suffered by Pakistan as a result of going into the US-led “war on terror”, which has also bred more violence and terror in Pakistan, have been enormous; our society has been radicalized and polarized; we have suffered 70,000 dead and over $100 billion in losses to the economy. All this, despite Pakistan having nothing to do with 9/11. Now, after suffering on all fronts, after hearing the constant US refrain of “do more” and after being humiliated by an ungrateful Donald Trump, the government of Pakistan is saying “what I had said from the start: the Pakistan should not become a part of the US led so-called war on terror”
“The lesion we must learn is never to be used by others for short-term paltry financial benefits ever again. We became a US proxy for a war against the then Soviet Union when it entered Afghanistan and we allowed the CIA to create, train and arm Jihadi groups on our soil and a decade later we tried to eliminate them as terrorists on US orders.
“The time had come to stand firm and give a strong response to the US. Two immediate measures can be taken by Pakistan to send an unambiguous message to the US: One, we must immediately remove excessive US diplomatic, non-diplomatic and intelligence personnel from Pakistan so that diplomatic parity is established according to international legal norms governing diplomatic relations between states. Two, we must deny the US GLOC and AIRLOC facilities which we were providing free of cost to the US.
“As for the treat of the US rescinding Pakistan’s Major Non NATO Ally status, we should welcome it because it meant little in concrete terms. Only used, outdated weapons systems were available for Pakistan to purchase. Pakistan is not US-dependent on its strategic weapon systems.
“Most important, Pakistan should fight terrorism for its own sake and in a holistic manner; we should fight terrorism because of what it has wrought on our society, aided and abetted from across our borders. Daesh is on our Western border with Afghanistan and hostile powers may use it to foment trouble in FATA unless we mainstream FATA by merging into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa without wasting any more time. A vacuum will give these hostile powers and their terrorist proxies space to wreak havoc in Pakistan through FATA.
Therefore, it is of critical important that no vacuum prevails in FATA and that it is merged immediately into KPK. Until the merger takes place, each day increased FATA’s vulnerability.
“It is time for Pakistan to delink from the US especially after the new National Security Strategy announced by Trump in December 2017 which again targets Pakistan while emphasising the need to give India an increasing strategic role in Afghanistan and the region. While Pakistan does not seek a conflict with the US, it cannot continue being the scapegoat for US failures in Afghanistan.
“Pakistan also has viable options of creating a cooperative framework with China, Russia and Iran to seek peace in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the people of Pakistan expect their government and the state to defend the nation’s sovereignty and integrity”.
