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ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan has again insisted he wasn’t aware that Russia was going to invade Ukraine on the same day he met Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
In an interview with journalist Mark Austin, PTI chairman Imran Khan said: “How was I supposed to know that the day I landed in Moscow that Putin was going into Ukraine.”
“I have never believed in military solutions, ours was a bilateral meeting, it was planned long before. We didn’t realise that when I would reach there Putin would go into Ukraine. How was I supposed to know and how can you be punished for that?”
He added he is against military solutions in Ukraine and the purpose of his visit to the Kremlin was to discuss bilateral agreements.
When questioned about his government’s close ties with China and Russia, Imran Khan stated that he was elected to serve the people of Pakistan.
“My responsibility was to my country and so all my relationships, whether it was with China, with the United States, with Russia, were for the benefits of our own people,” he said.
Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan spoke to Sky News about his visit to Russia, his foreign policy decisions when it came to China and India, and the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan.
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— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 30, 2022
Not responsible for Afghan Taliban
When asked about the Taliban takeover of Aghanistan last year, he stated “there was never going to be a military solution” in Afghanistan.
“I am not responsible or a spokesman for the Taliban, if there was any other solution after 20 years of war, you should have found some solution,” he said, adding that Pakistan has never supported the Taliban. “Pakistan is the collateral damage of Afghanistan.”
He said the Pakistani people don’t want a “foreign-imposed government where members of our party were bought”. “We feel that rather than someone else imposing a government on the country, let the people decide,” he said.
Imran Khan accused India of violating United Nations resolutions in Kashmir, saying th neighbouring country has “illegally taken away the right of the Kashmiri people”.
“Did anyone speak against it? There are atrocities going on in Kashmir, 100,000 people in Kashmir have died. Has anyone condemned India for that? No because India is an ally, allow us to be neutral too so we can look after our people.”
