Imran Khan accuses US of regime-change conspiracy to set up military

Former Pakistan prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Friday accused the United States of conspiring against him to establish a military base in the country and use it to meet its foreign policy objectives in the region and beyond.

According to The Tribune Express, the PTI chief said that the US once again wants to have bases in Pakistan and use the country against Russia. The issue was going on between the US and Russia but Pakistan can't import cheap oil and gas from Russia; a condition that doesn't apply to India, he added.

"Pakistan paid a huge price for taking part in the war on terror but the US never even thanked it for standing by it," Imran said, adding that the reason was that "we allow others to use us like tissue paper."

Imran Khan was speaking at a seminar titled 'Regime Change: Impact on Politics, Security and Economy' organised by Islamabad Policy Institute (IPI).

"When the Economic Survey testified that the economy was flourishing during the PTI tenure as the agricultural industry and other sectors were improving, then why was the PTI government removed under an external conspiracy," the Tribune Express quoted Khan as saying.

"Those who have powers; those who are our neutrals; those who now say that we have taken a step back and become neutral; isn't this their Pakistan. Won't they suffer if the economy goes down?" asked Khan.

During his tenure, Imran had repeatedly said that giving military bases to the US for its future operations in Afghanistan was out of the question. At one point, Imran had categorically said that Pakistan would "absolutely not" allow any bases to the US and use of its territory for any sort of action inside Afghanistan, The Tribune Express reported.

Imran Khan further raised questions on the incumbent government of Shehbaz Shareef, saying that those who have been imposed on Pakistan, show interest in the country, but fled abroad whenever corruption cases are filed against them and come back after striking a deal.

"Those imposed on Pakistan through the US regime change conspiracy had no interest in the country because they were just looting and plundering the national wealth," he said.

"Is this in Pakistan's interest," Imran asked, adding that "If we think that our interest is with these 'thieves' then we don't have any future."

He further said that the regime change has profoundly harmed Pakistan. The nation was paying the price of the incumbent rulers' incompetency in the form of inflation and load-shedding, he added.

He said that the PTI government was blamed for not being able to control inflation by the incumbent rulers when they were in the opposition. However, he added, the incumbent government unleashed an unprecedented wave of inflation in just three months, the Tribune Express reported.

Imran Khan was ousted from power after losing a no-confidence vote, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of "independent" foreign policy. Even after his ouster, the former PM has continued with foreign conspiracy tirades at every rally.

According to the Shehbaz Sharif government, the PTI government did not arrange LNG, coal, and furnace oil imports when their prices were at their lowest and international lenders were providing cheaper loans to sustain the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. (ANI)