No meaningful evidence of coup against Imran Khan: Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky, the leading voice against imperialism and a fierce critic of US foreign policy, has said that there is “no meaningful evidence of a coup" by his country against former prime minister Imran Khan.

Responding to some questions of a left-wing blogger with whom he has communicated frequently in the past, Chomsky said, “The US is powerful, but not all-powerful. There is a tendency to attribute everything that happens in the world to the CIA or some diabolical Western plan. There is plenty to condemn, sharply. And the US is indeed powerful. But it’s nothing like what is often believed.”

Chomsky added that he did not consider the cable of Pakistan's former ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed, as “substantial evidence” of American intervention for a regime change in the country.

Responding to those who believe that such "threatening messages" are usually the way regime changes take place, Chomsky said, “By that logic, there are regime changes being planned constantly all over the world." He added that the connecting of the dots was "meaningless.”

In his post detailing the comments by Noam Chomsky, the blogger wrote that he felt compelled to seek Chomsky’s opinion after he saw that some conspiracy theorists were misrepresenting his views.

“So the centrists and rightists (and even some leftists) who take inspiration for their 'anti-imperialism' from Professor Chomsky, or the perceived Chomsky (and not the actual one) should take heed that all their triumphant pronouncements of a coup, based on the ‘threatening letter’ are deemed to be meaningless by the biggest critic of American foreign policy and one of the leading anti-imperialists in the world,” the blogger wrote.

In his March 27 address to a PTI rally, the former prime minister had revealed that "foreign elements" are involved in the attempts to topple his government and said, "some of our own people" are being used in this regard.

The letter was waived by PM Imran Khan in a public rally as he faced a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly.