PM Imran Khan slams western envoys' joint letter on Russia

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan hit out at Islamabad-based Western envoys who last week urged Pakistan to condemn Russia's actions in Ukraine, asking them if they thought Pakistan was their "slave". The heads of 22 diplomatic missions, including those of European Union member states, released a joint letter on March 1 urging Pakistan to support a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly condemning Russia's aggression against Ukraine. "What do you think of us? Are we your slaves...that whatever you say, we will do?" Imran Khan said while addressing a political rally on Sunday. 

 "I want to ask the European Union ambassadors: Did you write such a letter to India?" Imran Khan said and added  that Pakistan suffered because it had supported the Western NATO alliance in Afghanistan. "We have friendships with the United States, Russia, China and Europe. We are not in any camp. Since we are neutral, we will try to collaborate with these countries to endeavour for an end to this war in Ukraine," Imran Khan said. On March 1, the heads of various foreign missions in Pakistan, including Germany and France, wrote a joint letter recalling the February 25 UNSC resolution. The move to release the letter publicly was rare, according to diplomats.

The letter, signed by the ambassadors of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, Japan, Norway and Switzerland as well as the head of the Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan, said the resolution was aimed at reaffirming the commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders and would have deplored in the strongest terms Russia´s aggression against Ukraine.