Press Release
21 November 2018
Congratulations to Imran Khan for lashing out at Trump
Citizens International congratulates Pakistan’s Prime Minister Mr. Imran Khan for standing up to the United States President Donald Trump and lashing out at him for his irresponsible and insulting remarks about Pakistan. Pakistan must seriously review its relations with the US and adopt an independent foreign policy. The previous governments had pursued a policy of serving the geo-political goals of the US and it has been disastrous for Pakistan. It will be in Pakistan’s interest to forge closer relations with Russia, China, Turkey, Iran and Qatar.
The previous governments’ blind support for the US ‘War on Terror’ has contributed to the violence, extremism, glaring widespread poverty, failure of the institutions and corruption in Pakistan, which, now, Imran Khan’s government is expected to solve. Pakistan’s support for the US war was, as revealed by him, at a great cost to the Pakistani people – 75,000 human casualties and over $ 123 billion economic loss compared to a miniscule $20 billion US aid. The culture of violence and social and political instability produced by the war is incalculable and will take decades to solve.
We call Mr. Imran Khan to discuss with our dynamic Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamed the formation of a block of progressive Muslim nations – Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey and Iran – to address the challenges facing Muslims, ranging from
democratisation; economic, scientific and technological backwardness; sectarian conflicts; Palestine, Kashmir and other conflict areas; to Islamophobia.
We hope that the new government in Pakistan will succeed in its efforts to make it a strong and respected Islamic country, committed to promoting freedom, social justice and human rights for all.
S.M. Mohamed Idris
Chairman,
Citizens International