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‘Concocted idea’: Ex-Trump admin official junks Imran Khan's ‘foreign conspiracy’ claim
Lisa Curtis, who was former US President Donald Trump's point person on India, said that the embattled Pakistan PM is only trying to shore up his support base.
Claims by embattled Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan that the United States tried to topple his government are ‘concocted,’ Lisa Curtis, who was a senior official in the administration of US President Joe Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, has said.
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“According to me, Imran Khan has concocted this idea that somehow the US is looking to overturn his government. He has simply concocted this story to try to shore up his own base and gain support for his position,” Curtis, who served as Trump's deputy assistant, as well point person for India, during his four years in office, said.
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She further remarked that the former cricketer-turned-politician brought in the United States to hold on to his support base and get them riled up, adding that the nuclear-armed country's military leadership has become ‘disillusioned’ with him.
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“I think that we are looking at a period of political uncertainty in Pakistan. However, as we've seen before, no government in Pakistan has completed a full term. So, we've seen this before. And, therefore, people don't need to panic but we should also not take things for granted,” Curtis, now a senior fellow and a director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Centre for a New American Security think tank, said.
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In recent days, Khan, who, on April 3, survived the opposition's no-confidence motion against him in the National Assembly as it was dismissed by the deputy speaker who is from the ruling PTI, has repeatedly spoken about an ‘international conspiracy’ hatched by the United States, involving Pakistan's opposition parties, to remove him from power.
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He accused Donald Lu, Washington's assistant assistant secretary of state for south and central Asian affairs, of threatening Pakistan's then-envoy, Asad Majeed, of ‘implications’ if Khan survived the no-trust vote.
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The US has already dismissed Imran Khan's allegations, which, it said, are bereft of truth.
(With PTI inputs)
