ISLAMABAD: As the joint opposition has intensified its “wheeling dealing” to get the support of the ruling PTI allies, Prime Minister Imran Khan stood his ground on Wednesday, saying the opposition’s melodrama of no-confidence motion against him is nothing but a US-sponsored conspiracy to oust him after he plainly refused to toe its line with regard to his country’s foreign policy. The prime minister once again shared the content of the “threat letter”, which he had shown at his party’s mammoth March 27 power show, with a select group of journalists and reiterated “it is nothing but a direct “regime change” issue after his visit to Russia last month”.
According to reports, Asad Umar who is secretary general of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and minister for planning and development shared the details of the letter with the journalists in presence of the prime minister.
Umar showed the letter from a distance and contended “it is very clearly evident from the letter that whatever is happening in Pakistan through the no-confidence motion was conveyed to us on March 7 and whoever the letter was addressed to was told that if the vote of no-confidence is successful, Pakistan’s problems internationally will be reduced but if Prime Minister Imran Khan survives the no-confidence vote, arm-twisting of Pakistan will be done”.
According to journalists who were present there, “blatant language was also used in the threat letter.”
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To a question, the prime minister categorically said that he took Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa on board before embarking on a visit to Russia.
It was not a solo decision of the prime minister as the military leadership was fully on board, Prime Minister Khan was quoted as telling the journalists, adding the issue of abstaining from voting on Ukraine issue was also in the knowledge of the army chief as these were all collective decisions.
The journalists said that the government did not mention the name of any specific country from where the threat letter came, but it was quite obvious from the briefing it was the US which is not happy from the foreign policy of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s administration.
They were, however, told that the Europe and the US are not happy with Pakistan’s stance on Russia and Ukraine.
According to reports, the letter says that the Russia trip of Prime Minister Khan was clearly mentioned and it was said that the visit was the prime minister’s individual decision, adding if the no-confidence vote succeeds, “we will forgive everything, otherwise, the days ahead will become difficult”.
The journalists said that the mention of the prime minister and the no-confidence motion was made more than once and “regime change” was talked about.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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