Ahead of his impending defeat in the no-confidence motion, Pakistan PM Imran Khan lauded India's foreign policy while speaking at Islamabad Security Dialogue

Two days ahead of his impending defeat in the no-confidence motion, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan lauded India's foreign policy while inaugurating the Islamabad Security Dialogue on Friday. Contending that Pakistan never had an independent foreign policy at the time of Independence as it faced a lot of problems back then, he reasoned that this led to the country developing a "dependency syndrome". Khan affirmed that his country participated in the Jihad against the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan and the War on Terror only due to the financial assistance offered by the US.

Pakistan PM Imran Khan remarked, "We have never evaluated what we gained and lost when we participated in the Afghan Jihad. We have never conducted an independent analysis of the same. We helped the people of Afghanistan against foreign occupation, they faced atrocities and we entered the picture. But we never evaluated whether we entered because we wanted to help the people of Afghanistan or because of dollars? If you evaluate this, we lost a lot more than the dollars that we received."

"In the 80s, we said that we are against foreign opposition. After 2000, we said that the resistance after (the end of) foreign occupation is terrorism. The country took a 180-degree turn and violated its own principles," he added, emphasising that the country's foreign policy must give priority to the national interest.

Mentioning that India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia have progressed far ahead of Pakistan owing to their independent foreign policy, the 1992 World Cup-winning captain stated, "Some powerful people got upset and asked why did you go to Russia. You are asking a country why did you visit Russia. India which is their ally in the Quad. Not only is India neutral to Russia but is also importing oil from there when there is an attempt to impose sanctions. Today, I was reading a statement by the British Foreign Secretary that we cannot say anything to India as they have an independent foreign policy. It is an independent country". Khan had also praised the Modi government's independent foreign policy during a rally on March 20.

'Refrained From Bloc Politics'

On this occasion, Imran Khan also tried to highlight the relative success of the foreign policy pursued during his tenure as the PM. He claimed, "We refrained from bloc politics. We made decisions taking into consideration what is best for the 22 crore people of Pakistan. It should not be the case that we should take another position after receiving a direction from somewhere". Khan's focus on foreign policy assumes significance in the wake of his accusing the US of conniving with the opposition in a bid to dislodge the PTI-led government. However, the US has flatly denied the charge of interfering in Pakistan's internal affairs.