Islamabad: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief (PTI) Imran Khan, in an interview to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, said the relationship between the US and Pakistan is that of a master and client. He said Pakistan is "a hired gun, being paid to kill America's enemies".
Talking about Osama bin Laden's assassination, Khan said the US operation on Pakistan's soil in May 2011 against bin Laden was the "ultimate humiliation" for the state, which was "sacrificing for the US" because it turned out that "our ally (US) did not trust us and actually came and killed someone on our own soil."
The PTI leader said, "These people (bin Laden and al Qaeda members) were assets of the Pakistan army. Around 20 years ago, Osama was trained by the Pakistan army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). They were financed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) but they were fighting the Soviets, and for a long time these groups had very close association with the Pakistan's secret agencies."
Khan reminded Assange that once al Qaeda was financed and trained by the US to fight the Soviet Union but "suddenly comes 9/11 and you (US) do a 180-degree turn".
Khan, whose political party was ignored for years and termed 'Pakistan's one-man party' by the US State Department cables, is a front-ruuner in Pakistan's politics now. He believes that the war on terror has been devastating for Pakistan. "40,000 Pakistanis have been killed fighting America's war. Basically, our own army was killing our own people," he said in the interview.
"No country has ever been bombed by its own ally, as we have been bombed. Never has a country's ruling elite, for personal benefits, have betrayed their own people as much as the elite under Musharraf and the current elite have," Khan said.
The cricketer-turned-politician insisted that the relationship between the US and Pakistan needs to change, it should be based on "dignity and self-respect" and not "client-master" model.
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