ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan delivered a wide-ranging address to the National Assembly and stressed that Pakistan could partner with the United States in peace, but never again in war.
“The US was defeated in Afghanistan and they tried to shift the blame of their defeat on us,” said the prime minister as he criticised past policies that led to Pakistan joining the US war on terror in Afghanistan.
The prime minister said the Afghanis out brothers and Pakistani knew them better than Washington. “We gave so many service but did they praise or acknowledge our sacrifices. Instead, they called us a hypocrite and blamed us. We have decided to not comprise on the country’s sovereignty.”
PM Imran Khan said the US was trying to force Pakistan to bring the Afghan Taliban to the negotiating table, but we “do not wish for strategic depth in Afghanistan and we will respect the decision of the Afghanis.”
He said Pakistan chose to help America in the war against terror “but after that, we captured our own people and sent them to Guantanamo Bay and former president Pervez Musharraf admitted this”.
“We sacrificed 70,000 people and wasted $150 billion in the war against terror,” he said, adding that after the Tora Bora incident, Al Qaeda started its operations in Pakistan.
“We received directions to send our troops to the tribal areas in pursuit of a few hundred people,” the prime minister said. He noted that the people living in tribal areas paid a hefty price as they were collateral damage in drone attacks.
PM Imran Khan said Pakistanis were unable to differentiate between their friends and enemies during the war on terror. He said overseas Pakistanis hid their faces after the raid by US Navy Seals in Abbottabad in which Osama Bin Laden was killed because “our ally did not trust us enough to carry out the attack.”
The premier said that the government at that time “did not have the courage to say no to the US and kept on lying to the people”. He added, “We must understand that when a nation does not respect itself, it is not respected by the world. Ee only want peace to prevail in Afghanistan, and that is in our best interest.”
The premier warned that a “very tough time” was coming for Pakistan in view of the situation in Afghanistan. He said the US had recognised there was no military solution to the conflict in the neighbouring country but it should have done so earlier.
A large number of Opposition leaders were not in attendance during the speech particularly Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former foreign minister Khawaja Asif, and party general secretary Ahsan Iqbal.
Among PPP leaders Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, former President Asif Ali Zardari were absent, whereas from the JUI Maulana Asad Mahmood was not in attendance. In addition, 96 members of the Opposition were present in the House during the prime minister’s speech.
