ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Saturday the national security advisor (NSA) of the United States had called his Pakistani counterpart ahead of a planned visit by Prime Minister Imran Khan to Russia in February and said “don’t go.”
Khan's trip to meet President Vladimir Putin and discuss issues including economic cooperation came hours after a number of Western nations hit Russia with new sanctions for its military deployment into parts of eastern Ukraine. As Russia launched a full-fledged invasion, Pakistan called for ceasefire but stopped short of a full condemnation.
Khan has since been embroiled in an opposition no-confidence motion to oust him, which he says is part of a “foreign conspiracy” orchestrated by the United States, which does not approve of Pakistan’s close ties with China and a thaw in relations with Russia.
“The national security advisor of the United States of America calls the nationals security advisor of Pakistan and says, ‘do not go’ [to Russia], categorically,” Qureshi told parliament in a session in which the no-confidence vote was on the agenda. “Tell me, where does it happen that a sovereign state is stopped in this way from a bilateral visit? Where does it happen and what sovereign and self-respecting nation would accept this?”
Khan last month spoke of a purported letter that contained “threats” to his government from a foreign country. He later named the country to be the United States (US), saying Washington was angered by his pursuit of an independent foreign policy for Pakistan and wanted to oust him.
Qureshi said if opposition members had doubts about the document, then he was ready to make a proposal.
"Let's go into an in-camera session and let the ambassador of Pakistan in Washington come and tell the House, and brief the august members of the House that whatever he sent that he stands by it or not," he said.
The developments come weeks after Khan hit out at Islamabad-based Western envoys who urged Pakistan to condemn Russia's actions in Ukraine, asking them if they thought Pakistan was their "slave".
The heads of 22 diplomatic missions, including those of European Union member states, released a joint letter on March 1 urging Pakistan to support a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly condemning Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
The move to release the letter publicly was rare.
"What do you think of us? Are we your slaves ... that whatever you say, we will do?" Khan said while addressing a political rally.
"I want to ask the European Union ambassadors: Did you write such a letter to India?" Khan added, noting that Pakistan's arch-rival had also abstained from the UN vote.