ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday lauded New Delhi for its "independent" foreign policy, which he said was aimed at ensuring “the betterment of its people.”
The remarks by the Pakistani prime minister were made during his address at a public rally in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, amid criticism of his policy decisions by the opposition, which has tabled a no-trust motion against him in Pakistan parliament.
Opposition parties accuse Khan of mismanaging the economy and foreign policy, and poorly governing the country. PM Khan has also faced defections by over a dozen lawmakers of his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in one of the toughest tests since coming to power in 2018.
"I commend Hindustan today; they have always kept an independent foreign policy. Today, India is with them in an alliance in Quad and yet it calls itself neutral," PM Khan told his supporters in Dargai area of Malakand Division.
"[It is] sourcing oil from Russia amid sanctions [on Moscow], because India's policy is for the betterment of its people."
India is part of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD), or QUAD, together with Australia, Japan and the United States (US), yet New Delhi has recently been facing criticism from the West for its long-standing political and security ties with Moscow, with some saying that engaging in business with Russia will help fund its attacks on Ukraine.
India has urged an end to the violence in Ukraine but abstained from voting in the United Nations (UN) against Russia — its main arms supplier since the Soviet era.
PM Khan criticized the two major opposition parties, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), for what he said were their policies against the interests of the people of Pakistan.
He said the US conducted over 400 drone strikes in the tenures of these two parties, but their leaders did not condemn for once the killings of innocent women and children in those strikes.
"The country won't move forward by submitting to the super powers and forsaking its dignity," the Pakistan premier said. "It will move forward when we will stand on our feet."
He said what his government had done in the last three-and-a-half years was just an effort to make Pakistan stand on its feet.
