Russia wades into Pakistan political turmoil, slams US for 'punishing' Imran Khan

As Pakistan's political chaos continued to witness fresh twists, Russia on Tuesday waded into the discussion and launched a fresh attack on America, accusing the Joe-Biden-led country of meddling in Pakistan's affairs. Claiming that the US was interfering in Pakistan's internal affairs, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that America had 'pressurised' Imran Khan to cancel his visit to Moscow post-invasion of Kyiv, which he rejected and was, therefore 'punished with the no-confidence motion'. 

'US decided to Punish Imran Khan'

"When he eventually came to visit us, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu summoned the Pakistani ambassador to Washington and demanded an immediate interruption of the visit, which was also rejected", Maria Zakharova said. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson further claimed that the US strongly condemned "the balanced reaction of the Pakistani leadership to the events in Ukraine and made it clear that partnership with the US is possible only if Imran Khan is removed from power".

"Further development of the situation leaves no doubt that the US has decided to punish Imran Khan: a group of MPs -members of the prime minister's party -'suddenly' defected to the opposition, and parliament was immediately presented with a motion of no confidence against the head of government", she further said.

The statement of Russia is in line with the theory Imran Khan propagated for days leading up to the no-confidence motion, which was eventually dismissed by the Deputy Speaker and the Pakistan National Assembly was subsequently dissolved by President Arif-ur-Rehman Alvi. Thereafter, Imran Khan was removed from the post of Pakistan Prime Minister along with his team of cabinet ministers, through a notification issued by the country's Cabinet Secretariat.  

US denies charges

Having been served a demarche, the United States has time and again refuted the claims made by Imran Khan and his team. In a recent statement, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that there is "no truth to allegations" that Washington has conspired to remove Imran Khan from power. "We are closely following developments in Pakistan and support its Constitution and rule of law," he said.