LAHORE: Former information minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry asserted his party always wanted better relations between Pakistan and the United States (US), ARY News reported on Saturday.
“We never wanted confrontational relations with the United States (US),” the former information minister said during an interview on BBC HardTalk.
However, Fawad Chaudhry, said that no one should interfere in Pakistan’s governance matters. “We do not want any one including the US and UK to dictate Pakistan,” he said, adding that citizens should have the right to choose people – who will rule them.
The PTI leader further said that his party’s government was ousted through ‘unconstitutional manner’, adding that they believe in democracy.
In response to a question, Fawad Chaudhry said that his party presented evidence — the cypher — in the ouster of the PTI government in key meetings, but they were not paid heed to.
“The cypher was sent by Pakistan Ambassador after a meeting with Donald Lu –Assistant Secretary Bureau Of South And Central Asian Affairs,” the former federal minister added.
“Donald Lu had said that Pak-US ties would depend on the success or failure of vote of confidence,” the PTI leader claimed, adding: “We wanted a judicial investigation into the cypher issue”.
Speaking of the ‘prevailing challenges’, the former information minister said that the country’s foreign exchange reserves were declining constantly due to political instability.
“The PDM government has created a situation of uncertainty in Pakistan”, he said, adding that the incumbent rulers have no roadmap to save the country’s economy.
About security challenges, Chaudhry said his party government was holding “continuous negotiations” with the Afghan government. However, he lambasted the government “ruining” all efforts due to their “ignorance of Afghanistan’s problems”.
Earlier, former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan signaled desire to build better ties with United States (US) based on mutual respect, saying that he wants to lead good relationships with everyone, “especially the United States”.
“Our relationship with the US has been as of a master-servant relationship, or a master-slave relationship, and we’ve been used like a hired gun. But for that I blame my own governments more than the US,” said Imran Khan.
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