Imran Khan slams West's pressure over Ukraine, asks: ‘Did you write to India?’
Imran Khan said adding that Pakistan suffered because it had supported the Western NATO alliance in Afghanistan. "What do you think of us? Are we your slaves ... that whatever you say, we will do?" Imran Khan said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan slammed the Islamabad-based Western envoys for pressuring Pakistan to condemn Russia's aggression against Ukraine in the United Nationals General Assembly voting from which India, Pakistan, the UAE abstained. Addressing a public rally, Imran Khan said Pakistan is not the West's slave in reply to the joint letter issued by the heads of 22 diplomatic missions in which Pakistan was urged to support a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly condemning Russia. "I want to ask the European Union ambassadors: Did you write such a letter to India?" Imran Khan said.
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"What do you think of us? Are we your slaves ... that whatever you say, we will do?" Imran Khan said adding that Pakistan suffered because it had supported the Western NATO alliance in Afghanistan.
"We have friendships with the United States, Russia, China and Europe. We are not in any camp. Since we are neutral, we will try to collaborate with these countries to endeavour for an end to this war in Ukraine," Imran Khan said.
On March 1, the heads of various foreign missions in Pakistan, including Germany and France, wrote a joint letter recalling the February 25 UNSC resolution. The move to release the letter publicly was rare, according to diplomats.
The letter, signed by the ambassadors of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, Japan, Norway and Switzerland as well as the head of the Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan, said the resolution was aimed at reaffirming the commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders and would have deplored in the strongest terms Russia´s aggression against Ukraine.
Imran Khan's visit to Moscow when Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised the special military operation on Ukraine drew flak. This was followed by Pakistan's abstention on the UNGA resolution.