Arrest of Pakistan’s Imran Khan an ‘internal matter’, US says

WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (Reuters) – The arrest of Imran Khan is an “internal matter” of Pakistan, a U.S. State Department spokesman said on Monday, refusing to take a position on the former prime minister and critic’s legal problems. common in the United States.

Police arrested Khan in Lahore on Saturday after a court sentenced him to three years in prison for illegal sale of state gifts. The guilty verdict could stop the opposition leader of Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party to contest a national election later this year.

Khan denies wrongdoing and maintains that the government and the mighty military – who has run the country for about half of its 75-year history – brought trumped-up charges against him.

“We think it’s an internal Pakistani matter,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday when asked if the United States thought Khan had a fair trial.

“Sometimes there are cases (around the world) that are so obviously unfounded that the United States thinks it should say something on the matter. We have not made that determination here,” Miller added.

Khan initially claimed that his removal from office in a parliamentary vote last year was Washington-backed and orchestrated by Pakistan’s top generals. Washington and the military denied it.

Analysts noted that the US response to Khan’s legal troubles has been muted compared to the prosecution of other opposition figures around the world.

“I think Khan blaming the US for his ouster last year has certainly not helped him much. Since then, the US has avoided commenting in specific terms on Pakistani policy,” said Madiha Afzal, a fellow at the Foreign Policy program. at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank.

WASHINGTON CRITICISM

Khan has been a critic of United States foreign policy almost his entire political life. During his years as a rising politician, the former cricket star was one of the fiercest critics of US drone attacks on militants along the country’s Afghan border, calling them extrajudicial killings and a violation of the sovereignty of Pakistan.

celebrated the United States defeat in afghanistan when the Taliban seized power in 2021 following the withdrawal of NATO and US forces and described it as Afghanistan having broken “the chains of slavery”.

Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington, believes that Khan’s incessant criticism in the past means he is out of favor in Washington.

“I hope the United States stays quiet,” Kugelman said.

Khan, 70, is the South Asian nation’s most popular leader, according to opinion polls. TO brief separate arrest in May on another series of corruption charges he sparked deadly riots and ended when the Supreme Court called for his release.

As arrests of Khan’s party workers rose after deadly violence and human rights groups alleged abuse of power by Pakistani forces, Kugelman said a strong US stance against the crackdown could have been perceived as siding with Khan.

“Khan has burned many bridges in DC. He’s not seen as a terribly sympathetic figure here these days. So the (President Joe Biden’s) administration is not willing to go out of its way to do him any favors.”

Kugelman said Pakistan was no longer as big a regional priority for Washington as it was while US forces were waging war in neighboring Afghanistan.

Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington; Edited by Don Durfee and Alex Richardson

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