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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Biden ‘can speak to me whenever he has time’, PM Khan

ISLAMABAD: Former US President Donald Trump didn’t wait to take the formal oath for calling ousted PM Nawaz however the 46th US president Joe Biden didn’t follow that custom and has not yet spoken to his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan despite being in the power for almost 5 months.

The whole matter came into light during the premier Khan’s interview with US news outlet Axios, in which journalist asked Khan whether he had spoken to Biden since he assumed office. Khan responded ‘No I haven’t.’

Jonathan Swan then asked ‘Is there a reason for that?’ on which PM responded ‘Whenever he has time he can speak to me. At the moment, clearly, he has other priorities.’

Earlier, the democratic leader was expected to pursue new inputs from relevant departments to understand the ties between the two countries and to formulate a new roadmap for future bilateral relations. It was also speculated that the US president wants to understand where ties stand following the end of Trump’s regime.

Some experts hinted at some of the snubs from the new US administration like the omission of the South Asian country from the list of invitees from the climate summit. Biden however appreciated the role of Pakistan in ending the war in Afghanistan, saying that ‘Pakistan’s role was important.’

Meanwhile, Khan’s recent comments about US bases in Pakistan can further prolong the contact as he clearly denied hosting any military bases to be used against other countries. ‘There is no way we are going to allow any bases, any sort of action from Pakistani territory into Afghanistan,’ he said ‘Absolutely not. Adding that, ‘we will be partners in peace, not in conflict’.

He also mentioned the recent visit of CIA Director William Burns, adding that the intelligence agencies of both sides have been in ‘constant touch’ but he denied meeting Burns.

Khan during the recent interview also called on the US to find a political settlement to its war in Afghanistan before withdrawing from war-torn Afghanistan. ‘The Americans, before they leave, there must be a settlement’, Khan can be heard referring to the deadline set for troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan.

‘A political settlement in Afghanistan would mean a sort of coalition government, there is no other solution’, he added.

‘In case, Taliban go for an all-out victory, there is going to be an incredible amount of bloodshed, and let me tell you the country that is gonna suffer most after Afghanistan is gonna be Pakistan’, PM stressed. He went on to say that ‘We already have three million Afghan refugees here and this could lead to another exodus.’

The premier also reiterated that ‘Pakistan suffered 70,000 casualties, more than any other country by joining the US war. We cannot afford any more military actions from our territory. We will be partners in peace, not in conflict’, he clarified.

Khan also responded to various topics. Khan also asked the US to resolve the dispute related to Kashmir, saying that ‘if the Americans have the resolve, the will, this can be sorted out.’

‘A disputed territory, according to the UN Security Council resolutions he went on to say that ‘there should have been a plebiscite for the people of Kashmir to decide about their own future. That has never taken place, it is festering.’

‘It was hypocrisy to focus on the human rights violations of Uighur Muslims in China and not Jammu and Kashmir as hundred thousand Kashmiris have been killed literally it’s an open prison in IIOJK. At least nine million Kashmiris have been put there, why is that not an issue” he told Axios.

Responding to Uyghur Muslims, he said ‘Whatever issues we have with the Chinese, we speak to them behind closed doors.’

Khan for another time termed the temptation with the number of skimpy clothes in Pakistani society. There would increase in the temptation of men if women wore very few clothes, he opined.

He said ‘If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on men unless they are robots, I mean it is common sense.’

This is not the first time, the premier had sparked much debate about the rise of sexual abuse with the dressing style of women in the South Asian country. Earlier in April, he termed obscenity a western and Indian concept, saying that he believes sexual crimes in Pakistan were rising because of skimpy clothes.

‘If you raise temptation in the society to the point and all these young guys have nowhere to go, it has consequences in the society,’ he stated.

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