Former Prime Minister Imran Khan alleged on Friday that the Shehbaz Sharif-led government in Pakistan is “secretly” seeking to mend its rift with India, and “overlooking” the countries' differences over Jammu and Kashmir.
“In the past 35 years, more than 100,000 people have sacrificed their life for the cause of Kashmir. I raised the issue of Kashmir on every international forum when I was prime minister,” Khan said during an address in Muzaffarabad city in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Thursday.
Khan told the crowd that his government cut ties with India after Delhi scrapped the semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir in a parliamentary vote in August 2019.
“Trade with a big country such as India would have been beneficial for us. But my government decided that we won’t compromise our stand on Kashmir,” said Khan, who has maintained that Islamabad should resume talks with New Delhi only after the Indian government backtracks on its August 2019 decision.
The cricketer-turned-politician then accused Sharif of trying to repair the relationship with New Delhi for his own “business interests”.
“They are secretly mending ties with India just to make money… Money is like God for them,” Khan said.
The former prime minister further accused the Sharif government of “following the instructions” of foreign powers which helped Shebaz gain power.
“The new government is just a stooge of the those who instigated my being ousted from power,” Khan remarked, reiterating his previous charge that the no-confidence motion brought against his government by Sharif in April was done so at the behest of the US.
Khan also accused Sharif of leaking confidential conversations between him and his former principal secretary Azam Khan. The leaked audio files reportedly contain discussions between the former PM and his staffer on how to cite the diplomatic cable received from the Islamabad’s embassy in Washington into official records.
The diplomatic cable reportedly contains a message from US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu advocating Khan’s removal from power before he was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April.
Khan said that the leaks just proved his claim that he was ousted from power under a “foreign-hatched conspiracy”.
“If Imran Khan is not defeated in the no-confidence motion then Pakistan will have to bear the price. Pakistan will benefit if Khan is removed,” Khan quoted the diplomatic cable as saying.