WASHINGTON: The United States dismissed the charge that it is trying to engineer a regime change in Islamabad — including Prime Minister Imran Khan’s naming of an American diplomat who he said called for his ouster — while reiterating support for a constitutional process and rule of law in the country.
“There is no truth to these allegations. We respect and support Pakistan’s constitutional process and the rule of law,” a State Department spokesperson said on Monday.
Ned Price said Washington is “closely following developments in Pakistan,” even as the matter of constitutional propriety was taken to the Supreme Court.
“As you heard from me last week, we support the peaceful upholding of constitutional and democratic principles in Pakistan,” Price told reporters at his daily press briefing.
“It is the case around the world. We do not support one political party over another. We support the broader principles, the principles of rule of law, of equal justice under the law,” he said.
Price reiterated that there is no truth in the allegations that the United States is interfering in the internal affairs of Pakistan and tried to topple Khan’s government.
“There is absolutely no truth to the allegations,” Price said in response to a question.
Over the weekend, Khan, in a meeting with his parliamentary party, named Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, as the person who sought a regime change in Pakistan if ties between Washington and Islamabad were to improve.
Lu, a veteran of the State Department, is a former ambassador to Albania and Kyrgystan and is currently the State Department’s point man for the region.
According to Khan, Lu held out threats to Pakistan in a meeting with outgoing Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan, warning there could be implications if he (Khan) survived the no-confidence motion in the National Assembly.
