US encouraged removal of Imran Khan as PM: Classified Pakistan govt document reveals

Barely months ahead of crucial elections in Pakistan, a report, almost over a year old, has emerged, indicating that the United States advised the Pakistani government to remove Imran Khan as Prime Minister over his neutrality on the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The report has been published by a US-based news outlet The Intercept that cited a classified Pakistani government document. What did the report mentions? The document obtained by The Intercept revealed that Donald Lu, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in the US, voiced criticism against Pakistan’s neutral position on Russia-Ukraine war. The meeting between the Pakistani ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed Khan and two US State Department officials, including Donald Lu has attracted controversies, speculations and intense scrutiny in Pakistan over past one and a half year as Imran Khan and his military and civilian opponents struggled for power. The report further mentions that the political tussle intensified on 5 August when Khan received a three-year prison sentence on corruption allegations. However, Khan’s advocates have rejected the accusations as baseless. Additionally, the court’s ruling prevents Khan from participating in anticipated elections in Pakistan later this year. The document showed that Lu had hinted at a no-confidence vote to rectify the situation during the meeting with the then Pakistani ambassador to the US. As per the document, Lu said, “People here and in Europe are quite concerned about why Pakistan is taking such an aggressively neutral position (on Ukraine), if such a position is even possible. It does not seem such a neutral stand to us.” He then went on to say that if the Prime Minister was replaced, “all would be forgiven in Washington,” according to The Intercept’s report. “I think if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington because the Russia visit is being looked at as a decision by the Prime Minister,” Lu said, reported The Intercept, quoting the leaked document. According to The Intercept, the document revealed that the conversation concluded with the Pakistani ambassador expressing his wish that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine would not negatively impact Pakistan’s rapport with the United States. “I would argue that it has already created a dent in the relationship from our perspective,” Lu said. “Let us wait for a few days to see whether the political situation changes, which would mean that we would not have a big disagreement about this issue and the dent would go away very quickly,” the US State Department official said. In response to the accusations against the US for its alleged role in Imran Khan’s ouster, Mathew Miller, the State Department spokesperson, said that the allegations were false. “We had expressed concern about the visit of then-PM Khan to Moscow on the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and have communicated that opposition both publicly and privately," he said.