The U.S. government has stressed that there was «never any truth» to former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Jan’s accusations of an alleged Washington-led «conspiracy» to remove him from power, days after he backtracked on his claims following months of insisting on his allegations.
«There has been a small step back (by Jan),» Vedant Patel, one of the State Department’s spokesmen, has indicated. «As we have said previously, there is not and never has been any truth to these allegations,» he said.
Thus, he has stressed that «the United States values long-standing cooperation with Pakistan and has always seen a prosperous and democratic Pakistan as key to U.S. interests.» «That remains unchanged,» Patel stressed.
«We don’t have a position or a political candidate of one party versus others. We support peaceful adherence to democratic, constitutional and legal principles. We will not allow propaganda and misinformation to get in the way of a bilateral relationship,» he reiterated.
Jan maintained in an interview published over the weekend by the Financial Times that he no longer «blames» Washington for the censure motion that removed him from power in April, before indicating that it is something he has «put behind him». He also stressed that he wants a «dignified» relationship between the two countries.
In response, the Pakistani government said the former prime minister will have to answer for his change of heart. In this regard, the Minister of Information, Marriyum Aurangzeb, stressed that Jan «will have to answer for a narrative from which lies and chaos were spread in the country».
Jan, who in the weeks before and after the no-confidence motion against him accused the United States of leading a plot to remove him from power, has made several calls for demonstrations to demand early elections. During one such protest, he survived an assassination attempt after being shot several times in the leg.
The leader of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party, who became the first Pakistani leader to be ousted in a no-confidence motion, was disqualified in late October by the election commission for failing to declare money from the sale of gifts and presents received from international leaders when he was head of government.
His departure from office was followed by a growing political tension marked by scandals of transfugism and massive protests in favor and against the Prime Minister, denounced by the opposition alliance of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) as a «puppet» of the Army. The Armed Forces are considered to be the most powerful force in Pakistan since its independence from the British Raj in 1947.
