Islamabad, April 15 (IANS) The delegation of US lawmakers, which visited Pakistan recently and held multiple meetings with top officials in the government and military establishment, did not mention or even address the case of former Prime Minister Imran Khan who continues to serve a jail term in multiple cases at the Adiala Jail.
Asserting that the new US administration led by President Donald Trump may not come to the rescue of Khan or use its influence to have Khan released from the jail, Pakistan National Assembly’s Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, who had a brief meeting with the visiting US delegation, said that the lawmakers made no mention of PTI founding chairman during their engagements in Islamabad.
“US congressional delegation, which held a series of meetings with government officials and politicians on the sidelines of the Pakistan Minerals Forum 2025, made it clear that they had no interest or role in Pakistan’s internal political affairs,” said Sadiq.
Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has been lobbying to raise the issue of “illegal arrest” of their leader in concocted fake cases against the former premier, along with the ongoing crackdown by the government and the military establishment against party leadership. The PTI was looking at the Trump administration with a hope that it would raise the issue with the Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government in Pakistan and use its influence to ensure release of Khan from jail.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan alleged that his party leaders were deliberately omitted from any interaction with the US delegation.
“I was not notified of any meetings and received no formal or informal invitation,” claimed Gohar Ali Khan.
However, his claims were rejected by Ayaz Sadiq, who said that Gohar Ali Khan and Amir Dogar were invited to a dinner hosted for the US delegation, but they chose not to attend.
“It was an opportunity for the PTI leaders to speak directly with the Americans – the same people they often appeal to for support,” said Sadiq.
PTI leaders kept on tagging the visiting US lawmakers in their social media posts while the delegation was in Islamabad in an attempt to notify them of the government’s deliberate attempt to exclude its leadership from meetings.
It has been seen in the past that the White House has refrained from commenting on Khan’s arrest and has preferred to maintain that it would not interfere in Pakistan’s internal matters.
The Trump administration not raising the Imran Khan issue has given a chance to the Shehbaz Sharif-led government and its leaders to criticise PTI leadership for failing to influence the US government against them.
–IANS
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