US State Dept once again dodges question on Imran Khan

KARACHI, MAR 20 (DNA): The US State Department has again refrained from directly addressing questions regarding former prime minister Imran Khan’s imprisonment.

During a Wednesday press briefing, US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce declined to comment on “the internal frameworks of another country” when pressed on the issue.

During her press briefing, when asked by a journalist from a Pakistani newspaper whether US President Donald Trump would take “some sort of action” on Khan being jailed as “the most popular leader with the majority number of seats in parliament”.

The journalist also went on to elaborate that in the last two years Pakistan’s democracy, women’s rights and “everything” had been “shattered”, asking the State Department spokesperson if the new US administration would do anything since “thousands of his new voters in the US and millions of Pakistanis” are expecting Trump to take action.

Without directly mentioning Pakistan, Khan, or anything related to the country, Bruce categorically stated that she was “not going to comment on the internal frameworks of another country”.

Adding that it has been eight weeks since Trump took office, she said “a lot is going on” and anything regarding the US president’s “intentions and actions” can be found out by “reaching out to the White House”.

The spokesperson then seemed to veer off on a tangent and said that both Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio have “made it clear” that “we care about the planet. We care about our neighbours. We care about what’s happening on the globe. And that’s been evidenced by our actions”.

“I’ve been skipping around you here, and there’s no reason for that,” she said concluding the response.

This is the second time in two weeks that the US State Department spokesperson has avoided giving a direct response to a question about the imprisonment of party founder Imran Khan.

Earlier on March 6, during a media briefing, a clarification had been sought on the expected support for Khan from US President Trump, the spokesperson had then too chosen to sidestep the question.