ISLAMABAD: United States Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome has said he had not met former Prime Minister Imran Khan, adding that there was “absolutely no truth” to the ex-premier’s accusations that the US was involved in a foreign conspiracy to oust him.
In April, the Khan government handed an official protest to the US embassy over what it called Washington’s interference in the country’s affairs, referring to a diplomatic note from a Pakistani diplomat based on the envoy’s meetings with US officials that Khan said was evidence of a foreign conspiracy to oust him from power.
Just weeks later, Khan was removed from office in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence, which he blamed, and continues to blame, on a conspiracy hatched by the US with Khan’s rivals in Pakistan, including current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Both deny the charge but Khan has held rallies across the country since, challenging the mandate of the Sharif government and calling for fresh polls.
“We want to see an independent, prosperous and strong Pakistan. That’s what we believe is in our interest and in the interest of the region,” Bloom said in an interview to Pakistani daily The News on Thursday. “As for the allegations, there is absolutely no truth in that.”
“The United States has spoken to them [Pakistan government] here and in Washington. I am hopeful that we can get past this [regime change accusations] and back into the important work that we have to do, to work together on some issues right now facing the world and our two countries.”
He said he had not met Khan and added that the US would “absolutely” work with any government, including one led by Khan, that the Pakistani people elected.
Blome said it was not his place to talk about whether an inquiry should be held into Khan’s accusations:
“I can’t speak on his statement. I don’t have too much to add. We don’t read out the routine diplomatic meetings. What I can say is certainly it’s the norm of diplomatic business of any ambassador, meeting here or in Washington … To have these kinds of discussions about issues, whether we agree or not, it is a standard business of diplomacy.”
Speaking about Pak-US ties, Blome said it was a very strong defense relationship.
“We increased the pace of bilateral exercises. We did the Falcon Talon Exercise in March. We did the Inspired Union naval exercises in April,” he told The News. “We had eight naval ships visit last year to Pakistan. These are all signs of continued, strong relationships and cooperation with Pakistan.”
“Our training programs remained very vigorous and strong for decades. The combined, joint maritime forces in the Arabian Sea patrolled together at the international waters to protect against pirates and terrorism.”
“Actually, Pakistan has commanded joint maritime forces 20 times more than any other country,” the ambassador said.
“Security partnership has broadly remained very strong in terms of defense transfers and security assistance that are continued on a case by case basis.”
