Aamir Latif
06 March 2022•Update: 06 March 2022
KARACHI, Pakistan
In a rare hard tone, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday flayed European Union envoys for asking Islamabad to condemn Russia's war on Ukraine.
In an address to a public gathering in Vihari district, northeastern Punjab province, Khan asked the EU ambassadors if Pakistan is their "slave?"
In a letter to the Foreign Ministry this week, nearly two dozen EU ambassadors in Islamabad, including two veto powers, France and the UK, urged Pakistan to vote against Russia in a special UN General Assembly session on the Ukraine war.
Pakistan, however, stayed neutral along with China, India and several other countries.
"The EU ambassadors have written a letter asking us to condemn Russia. I want to ask if you have written any such letter to India," Khan said, adding, "Are we (your) slaves do anything you say?"
"When India violated international laws in occupied Kashmir, did any one of you sever ties with India or halt trade?" he added, referring to New Delhi's scrapping of the decades-long semi-autonomous status of the Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.
He stated that Islamabad would not support any country in a war, but would support efforts to restore peace.
"What have we gained from our support for NATO in Afghanistan, other than the loss of 80,000 lives and a loss of $150 billion? Has NATO ever acknowledged our sacrifices? Did EU ambassadors ever write a letter praising our efforts in Afghanistan?", he added.
In contrast, he continued, Pakistan was blamed for NATO's failure in Afghanistan.
Pakistan has friendly relations with the US, Russia, China, and Europe, he said, adding, "Since we are neutral and not in any camp, we will try to collaborate with these countries to end the war in Ukraine," he said.
Referring to US drone strikes on Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border from 2004 to 2016, Khan said no drone attacks have occurred in the country since he took office.
"Even if someone tries to launch a drone attack, I will order the Pakistan Air Force to shoot that drone down," he said.
