Imran expresses outrage at Trump's accusation, threats to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday expressed outrage at US President Donald Trump’s accusations and threats to Pakistan ‘to hide US failures in Afghanistan’.

Trump’s accusatory tweet followed by US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley’s accusations were not just unwarranted threats, but deliberate attempts to humiliate and insult the Pakistani nation and state, the PTI chief said in a press release.

Imran said he has always opposed Pakistan fighting someone else’s war – as a “gun for hire”. The losses suffered by Pakistan as a result of joining the US-led “war on terror”, which has also bred more violence and terror in Pakistan, have been enormous, said the PTI chief.

“Our society has been radicalised and polarised; 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,” Imran said.

Lashing out at the government, he stated that the ruling party has now changed its stance to the one that the PTI chief has maintained from day one.

“Now, after suffering on all fronts, after hearing the constant US demand of “do more” and after being humiliated by an ungrateful Trump, the government now says that Pakistan should not have become a part of the US-led so-called war on terror,” the PTI chief said.

“The lesson 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 groups of fighters on our soil. A decade later we tried to eliminate them as terrorists on US orders,” the statement reads.

“The time has 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: 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 or we must deny the US GLOC and AIRLOC facilities, which we were providing free of cost to the US,” Imran suggested.

He further stated that Pakistan should welcome the ‘threat of the US rescinding Pakistan’s Major non-NATO ally status’ because it meant little in concrete terms. Imran stressed that only used and outdated weapons systems were available for Pakistan to purchase.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 the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) unless we mainstream it by merging it into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa without wasting more time,” Imran’s press release reads.

The PTI chief emphasised the ‘critical importance’ of eliminating vacuum from FATA by ‘immediately merging it into KP.”

“A vacuum will give these hostile powers and their terrorist proxies’ space to wreak havoc in Pakistan through FATA,” said Imran. “Until the merger takes place, each day increases 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,” he said.

“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 state to defend the nation’s sovereignty and integrity.”

'No more': Trump lambasts Pakistan

In a tweet on Monday, Trump accused Pakistan of giving nothing but lies and deceit, thinking US leaders to be fools.

"They give safe havens to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!" he had said.

Trump's tweet was followed by the US withholding $255 million in aid to Islamabad, accusing Pakistan of failing to cooperate fully in the fight against terrorism.

"The administration is withholding $255 million in assistance to Pakistan. There are clear reasons for this. Pakistan has played a double game for years," US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told reporters on Tuesday.

"They work with us at times, and they also harbour the terrorists that attack our troops in Afghanistan," she said.

"That game is not acceptable to this administration. We expect far more cooperation from Pakistan in the fight against terrorism," she added.

"The president is willing to go to great lengths to stop all funding from Pakistan as they continue to harbour terrorists."

Shortly afterwards, the White House said it wanted to see Pakistan "do more to fight terrorism" and that it would likely announce further actions to pressure Islamabad within days.

"Our goal is that we know that they can do more to stop terrorism and we want them to do that," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.

"In terms of specific actions, I think you'll see some more details come out on that in the next 24 to 48 hours."

Last month, Pakistan joined more than 120 countries to defy the US president and vote in favour of a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution calling for America to drop its recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

But, addressing reporters at the United Nations on Tuesday, Haley said the Pakistan aid issue was not connected to the vote on Jerusalem, adding, "It is entirely connected to Pakistan's harbouring of terrorists."

"However, as I said earlier in December, we won't forget the Jerusalem vote," she had said.