Imran Khan says Pak’s ‘freedom struggle begins again’ with his govt’s ouster

Islamabad: Pakistan’s “freedom struggle” has begun again with the ouster of his government due to a “foreign conspiracy”, former prime minister Imran Khan said on Sunday in his first comments since his unceremonious removal hours earlier.

Despite the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s hectic efforts to avoid voting on the no-confidence motion against Khan, the joint Opposition succeeded in its month-long efforts to oust Khan from the prime minister’s office as 174 members of the 342-member National Assembly voted against him in the wee hours of Sunday after a day of high drama.

Khan, 69, became the first premier in the country’s history to be sent home after losing the trust of the House.

In his first comments since ouster, Khan in a tweet said, “Pakistan became an independent state in 1947; but the freedom struggle begins again today against a foreign conspiracy of regime change. It is always the people of the country who defend their sovereignty & democracy.”

Khan has been claiming that the Opposition’s no-trust motion against him was the result of a foreign conspiracy because of his independent foreign policy. He has named the US as the country behind the conspiracy, a charge bluntly denied by Washington multiple times.

Khan has alleged that Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in the Department of State was involved in the foreign conspiracy’ to topple his government.

Former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a passionate speech in Parliament on Saturday also echoed Khan’s allegations of regime change being plotted by the US in Pakistan.

He said the US national security adviser telephoned his Pakistani counterpart and “categorically asked us not to proceed with the Russia tour” of Prime Minister Khan in February.

“Today Pakistan is standing at a historic juncture and the people need to decide whether they want to live in an independent state or become slaves [to the West], Qureshi had said.

Pakistan has struggled with political instability since its formation in 1947 with multiple regime changes and military coups. No prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term.