US has not asked PM for military bases, govt bringing it up on its own: Bilawal

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday claimed that it is false that Prime Minister Imran Khan has taken a stand against the United States by refusing to allow it to set up military bases in Pakistan.

"The US had not made any request for the bases to the Pakistani government," he claimed.

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While addressing a public gathering for the upcoming Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) elections, Bilawal claimed that only PPP took a stand against Washington and closed the country's military bases during its tenure.

"You must have been hearing that the US will not be given bases and the prime minister has taken a stand [...] to tell you the truth, no one has even asked him, no one has made him a phone call, no one has asked him for a base, he is just saying it on his own," the PPP leader alleged.

Last month, Prime Minister Imran Khan categorically stated that Pakistan will "absolutely not" allow any bases and territory to be used by the United States for targeted counter-terrorism operations and strategic action inside Afghanistan.

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“Absolutely not. There is no way we are going to allow any bases, any sort of action from Pakistani territory into Afghanistan. Absolutely not,” the prime minister told Axios in an interview on HBO.

The PPP Chairman stated in his speech that the former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf provided these bases to the United States, adding that "If today they're still closed then because of whom? Because of the PPP".

"And this strength is only in a national and democratic parliament, this puppet govt does not have that strength to do such big things," he said, referring to the PTI government.