Daily Times

Former prime minister Imran Khan repeated his claims Monday that the United States had orchestrated his ouster, saying that “anti-Americanism” was growing in the South Asian nation as a result of “all this becoming public.”

Khan’s exclusive interview with CNN was his first with an international news organization since the cricketer-turned-politician was unseated in a vote of no-confidence.

The former prime minister said that Donald Lu, the Assistant Secretary for the US Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, threatened “Pakistan will suffer consequences” unless Khan was removed from power. Khan even suggested in the interview that Lu be fired for interfering with Pakistan’s domestic politics, and “for bad manners and sheer arrogance.” When asked to provide evidence for his claims, Khan said that there were note takers on both the US and Pakistani sides at the meeting. He said that a cipher – an encoded diplomatic cable – outlining the details of the meeting sent from the Pakistani ambassador had been forwarded to Pakistan’s cabinet. Khan said he also presented the minutes from that meeting to the National Security Council.

Khan, once again, reiterated his “foreign conspiracy” claim against his ouster, asking for the reason, if there had no role, why the United States (US) was interested in meeting party backbenchers before meeting between Pakistani ambassador and Donald Lu. “In an official meeting, Lu tells the ambassador that unless you get rid of Prime Minister Imran Khan in a vote of no confidence which by the way hadn’t been tabled as yet but he seems to know about it Pakistan will have to suffer consequences,” Khan said.

Khan called for a huge nationwide rally to protest his downfall for Wednesday and confirmed he would run again for office at the next election. “Whenever the next elections take place, not only will we run, but I can predict that this will be the biggest party in Pakistan’s history, because people are so incensed and feel insulted that these criminals have been foisted upon us,” Khan told CNN, referring to Pakistan’s new government.

He told CNN that there was anger and “anti-Americanism right now” in the country.

Khan’s decision to meet with Putin in Moscow on the day Russia began its war has raised eyebrows in the West, though Khan repeated his claims that he did not know Russia would invade that day. He said he “would regret” going if he had known about the invasion. “I have opposed all military ways of achieving political ends,” Khan said. The trip had been planned for some time and was vital in securing Pakistan’s energy needs, Khan argued, as his country battled soaring inflation and poverty. He said the two discussed Russian oil, gas and wheat exports to Pakistan. “My responsibility is for the wellbeing. We have 50 million people living below the poverty line,” Khan said.

Khan claimed relations between Pakistan and the US strained after President Joe Biden took office and blamed him for the situation in Afghanistan. “I had perfectly good relationship with the Trump administration,” Khan said. “It’s only when the Biden administration came, and it coincided with what was happening in Afghanistan. And for some reason, which I still don’t know, I never, they never got in touch with me.”