ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said his government handed an official protest to the U.S. embassy on Friday over Washington’s interference in the country’s affairs.
“We now have given a demarche to (the) American embassy,” Khan told local television channel ARY in an interview, referring to a diplomatic note over “a foreign conspiracy” to oust him from power.
Faced with a tight no-confidence vote on Sunday that could see him ousted after defections from his ruling coalition, Khan had said on Thursday that a foreign country was conspiring against him after he visited Moscow in February.
Khan met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on the day Russian forces invaded neighboring Ukraine.
Speaking on Thursday in a nationally televised address, Khan said a Western country had been unhappy about his Moscow visit. He mentioned the United States before smilingly correcting it to “a foreign country.” But on Friday Khan named the United States, in his interview with ARY News TV.
Ruling party members in Pakistan led a protest against the United States in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday.
In an unusual move, dozens of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ruling party figures, led by a provincial minister, rallied in the centre of Peshawar, chanting, “Down with America!”
“We have come out to support Imran Khan who has challenged the capitalist forces,” the minister, Taimur Jhagra, told the rally.
“We will prefer hunger over a surrender to the U.S.,” said another provincial lawmaker in the rally, Fazal Elahi.
A handful of activists from an anti-America group also reacted to Khan’s claims, holding a rally in Islamabad where they burned American flags.
Nearly 500 protesters led by a ruling party MP rallied in the southern port city of Karachi and chanted anti-American slogans.
Khan has said that his government possessed an “official document” that was evidence of the conspiracy. The document was later described by the government as a formal communication of a “senior official of a foreign country to Pakistan’s Ambassador in the said country in a formal meeting”.
Pakistan’s foreign office has also summoned the acting U.S. charge d’affaires to lodge a strong protest over Washington’s meddling in the internal affairs of the country.
Pakistani media, citing diplomatic sources, said that the senior U.S. diplomat was handed over the protest note for the language used by an American official during a formal communication regarding a no-confidence motion in Pakistan’s parliament aimed at ousting Khan.
The English-language Dawn newspaper said the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu, had in a meeting with Pakistan’s envoy Asad Majeed warned that there could be implications if Khan survived the opposition’s no-confidence motion on April 3.
A Pakistani foreign office official confirmed that a “demarche” was handed over to the acting U.S. envoy in Islamabad, adding that Washington was told that the use of such undiplomatic language was unacceptable.
A senior Pakistani journalist, Nasim Zehra, in a Twitter post also confirmed that the U.S. Department of State official, referring to Donald Lu, had told the Pakistani ambassador that as long as PM Khan was in power, “relations with Pakistan cannot improve”.ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said his government handed an official protest to the U.S. embassy on Friday over Washington’s interference in the country’s affairs.
“We now have given a demarche to (the) American embassy,” Khan told local television channel ARY in an interview, referring to a diplomatic note over “a foreign conspiracy” to oust him from power.
Faced with a tight no-confidence vote on Sunday that could see him ousted after defections from his ruling coalition, Khan had said on Thursday that a foreign country was conspiring against him after he visited Moscow in February.  
Khan met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on the day Russian forces invaded neighboring Ukraine.
Speaking on Thursday in a nationally televised address, Khan said a Western country had been unhappy about his Moscow visit. He mentioned the United States before smilingly correcting it to “a foreign country.” But on Friday Khan named the United States, in his interview with ARY News TV.
Ruling party members in Pakistan led a protest against the United States in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday.
In an unusual move, dozens of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ruling party figures, led by a provincial minister, rallied in the centre of Peshawar, chanting, “Down with America!”
“We have come out to support Imran Khan who has challenged the capitalist forces,” the minister, Taimur Jhagra, told the rally.
“We will prefer hunger over a surrender to the U.S.,” said another provincial lawmaker in the rally, Fazal Elahi.
A handful of activists from an anti-America group also reacted to Khan’s claims, holding a rally in Islamabad where they burned American flags.
Nearly 500 protesters led by a ruling party MP rallied in the southern port city of Karachi and chanted anti-American slogans.
Khan has said that his government possessed an “official document” that was evidence of the conspiracy. The document was later described by the government as a formal communication of a “senior official of a foreign country to Pakistan’s Ambassador in the said country in a formal meeting”.
Pakistan’s foreign office has also summoned the acting U.S. charge d’affaires to lodge a strong protest over Washington’s meddling in the internal affairs of the country.
Pakistani media, citing diplomatic sources, said that the senior U.S. diplomat was handed over the protest note for the language used by an American official during a formal communication regarding a no-confidence motion in Pakistan’s parliament aimed at ousting Khan.
The English-language Dawn newspaper said the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu, had in a meeting with Pakistan’s envoy Asad Majeed warned that there could be implications if Khan survived the opposition’s no-confidence motion on April 3.
A Pakistani foreign office official confirmed that a “demarche” was handed over to the acting U.S. envoy in Islamabad, adding that Washington was told that the use of such undiplomatic language was unacceptable.
A senior Pakistani journalist, Nasim Zehra, in a Twitter post also confirmed that the U.S. Department of State official, referring to Donald Lu, had told the Pakistani ambassador that as long as PM Khan was in power, “relations with Pakistan cannot improve”.ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said his government handed an official protest to the U.S. embassy on Friday over Washington’s interference in the country’s affairs.
“We now have given a demarche to (the) American embassy,” Khan told local television channel ARY in an interview, referring to a diplomatic note over “a foreign conspiracy” to oust him from power.
Faced with a tight no-confidence vote on Sunday that could see him ousted after defections from his ruling coalition, Khan had said on Thursday that a foreign country was conspiring against him after he visited Moscow in February.
Khan met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on the day Russian forces invaded neighboring Ukraine.
Speaking on Thursday in a nationally televised address, Khan said a Western country had been unhappy about his Moscow visit. He mentioned the United States before smilingly correcting it to “a foreign country.” But on Friday Khan named the United States, in his interview with ARY News TV.
Ruling party members in Pakistan led a protest against the United States in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday.
In an unusual move, dozens of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ruling party figures, led by a provincial minister, rallied in the centre of Peshawar, chanting, “Down with America!”
“We have come out to support Imran Khan who has challenged the capitalist forces,” the minister, Taimur Jhagra, told the rally.
“We will prefer hunger over a surrender to the U.S.,” said another provincial lawmaker in the rally, Fazal Elahi.
A handful of activists from an anti-America group also reacted to Khan’s claims, holding a rally in Islamabad where they burned American flags.
Nearly 500 protesters led by a ruling party MP rallied in the southern port city of Karachi and chanted anti-American slogans.
Khan has said that his government possessed an “official document” that was evidence of the conspiracy. The document was later described by the government as a formal communication of a “senior official of a foreign country to Pakistan’s Ambassador in the said country in a formal meeting”.
Pakistan’s foreign office has also summoned the acting U.S. charge d’affaires to lodge a strong protest over Washington’s meddling in the internal affairs of the country.
Pakistani media, citing diplomatic sources, said that the senior U.S. diplomat was handed over the protest note for the language used by an American official during a formal communication regarding a no-confidence motion in Pakistan’s parliament aimed at ousting Khan.
The English-language Dawn newspaper said the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu, had in a meeting with Pakistan’s envoy Asad Majeed warned that there could be implications if Khan survived the opposition’s no-confidence motion on April 3.
A Pakistani foreign office official confirmed that a “demarche” was handed over to the acting U.S. envoy in Islamabad, adding that Washington was told that the use of such undiplomatic language was unacceptable.
A senior Pakistani journalist, Nasim Zehra, in a Twitter post also confirmed that the U.S. Department of State official, referring to Donald Lu, had told the Pakistani ambassador that as long as PM Khan was in power, “relations with Pakistan cannot improve”.