Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan on Thursday said that he has always opposed Pakistan fighting the war on terror on behalf of the US. In a statement issued here in response to a tweet by US President Donald Trump, PTI chief said that fighting someone else's war as a "gun for hire" had bred violence and terror in the country.
He said that Trump threatened Pakistan in order to hide US failures in Afghanistan. "The accusations levelled against Pakistan are deliberate and we must learn never to be used by others for short-term paltry financial benefits again," the statement reads.
Imran was of the opinion that the country had viable options of creating a cooperative framework with China, Russia and Iran as partners to seek peace in Afghanistan. He added that the people of Pakistan expect their government and state to defend the nation's sovereignty and integrity.
The PTI chief pointed out that the losses suffered by Pakistan as a result of being dragged into the US-led war on terror had been enormous. "We have suffered 70,000 deaths and more than $100 billion losses to the economy, not to mention the polarization and radicalization of our society," the policy statement says.
"Pakistan first allowed the CIA to create, train and arm militant groups, and then we tried to eliminate them on the orders of the US government," Khan said in reference to the Soviet war in Afghanistan back in the 1980s. The press release from the PTI also stressed that there is an urgent need for the country to fight terrorism in a holistic manner.
"Hostile powers are trying to use militants to foment trouble in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Unless we mainstream FATA by merging it into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a vacuum will give these elements space to wreak havoc across Pakistan." According to the tweet, Imran Khan called upon the government to delink the country from an alliance with the US in the wake of the new national security policy of US President Donald Trump.
"The policy targets Pakistan while emphasizing the need for giving India an increasing strategic role in Afghanistan. While we do not seek a conflict with the US, Pakistan cannot continue to be the scapegoat for US failures in the region," Khan maintained.
Meanwhile, Ali Tareen, the son of a former PTI Secretary General Jahangir Tareen, who has been awarded a ticket to contest NA-154 (Lodhran) by-polls after his father was disqualified by Supreme Court, requested Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for deployment of military in constituency.
In a letter addressed to CEC, he said that some political parties have already started pre-poll rigging ahead of by-elections, which may create a law and order situation in the sensitive consistency. He said that in case of any law and order situation during the polling, the Punjab police will not be able to control the situation, for which the presence of the military to ensure security as well as well peace is needed on February 12.
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