Pakistan a valued partner, won't comment on Imran Khan’s recent statement: Ned Price

The United States has once again termed Pakistan a valued partner and has again rejected former prime minister Imran Khan’s allegations terming it propaganda and disinformation.

During the daily briefing, the State Department’s spokesperson was asked about the Imran Khan’s recent statement regarding his allegation on the United States and his response was obvious. “I’m just not going to comment on the evolution of the blame game, as you say, we have spoken clearly about this ever since these erroneous allegations surfaced. We’ve consistently said there is no truth to these allegations”. “We don’t let propaganda, misinformation, disinformation get in the way of any bilateral relationship.”

After months of allegations, former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan said that he doesn’t think United States as directly responsible for his ouster and held former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa responsible for the ‘conspiracy’ which resulted in his ouster via a no-confidence motion in April last year.

The PTI chairman made these remarks during an interview with the Voice of America and a separate televised address on Sunday. On both occasions, the former premier took swipes at the ex-chief of army staff, who, according to Imran Khan, was the source of all the crises plaguing Pakistan today.

“Whatever happened, now as things unfold, it wasn’t the U.S. who told Pakistan [to oust me]. It was unfortunately, from what evidence has come up, [former army chief] Gen [Qamar Javed] Bajwa who somehow managed to tell the Americans that I was anti-American. And so, it [the plan to oust me] wasn’t imported from there. It was exported from here to there,” Khan told VoA.

“We value our long standing cooperation with Pakistan. We’ve always viewed a prosperous and democratic Pakistan as critical to our interests. That very much remains unchanged. When it comes to various political players inside of Pakistan, we don’t have a position on one political candidate or party versus another. We asupport, as we do around the world, the peaceful upholding of democratic, constitutional, and legal principles”, said Mr Price.

Ned was also asked about the reports of revival of security cooperation with Pakistan which was suspended by the Trump administration, but he says he is not in a position to share publicly. Ned’s comments suggest that reports of revival of security cooperation might be true.

“Pakistan is a valued partner of the United States. It’s valued across many realms”, he remarked.“We have a security relationship that is important to us knowing that many of the threats Pakistan faces could well in turn be threats to us. And we value the work we do together, but I’m just not in a position to offer anything beyond that”.

On a question about Indian govt raids on BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai after the airing of a documentary on Modi, he said that “we support the importance of free press around the world. We continue to highlight the importance of freedom of expression, freedom of religion or belief as human rights that contribute to the strengthening of democracy here in this country, in India, and in our fellow democracies around the world”.