Not aware of Pakistan-US ‘private talk’ on elections: FO

Decision to invite Indian PM to oath-taking ceremony of new PM rests with new administration, says spokesperson

ISLAMABAD:

The Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch on Thursday said that she was not aware of any “private conversation” between the US and Pakistani officials on February 8 general elections, rejecting once again the criticism of the international community.

Several countries including the US and the UK and the European Union (EU) urged Pakistan to investigate allegations of voters’ fraud in the recently held parliamentary polls.

The US State Department spokesperson even said that the Biden administration took up the matter with Pakistan “privately” and urged the country to come clean on charges of election results manipulations.

Millions cast their ballot on February 8 with results marred by allegations of delayed announcement and rigging.

Also read: Western capitals call for probe into election irregularities

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) denied any systematic rigging and blamed the mobile service outage as reason for the delay in the election results announcement. The officials insisted that the accurate results were more important.

Baloch’s weekly briefing was dominated by questions on the elections and backlash from the international community. However, she robustly rejected the criticism, insisting that many countries reacted prematurely.

“While we value constructive advice from our friends, we believe making negative statements even before the completion of the electoral process is neither constructive nor objective. Pakistan is a democratic country,” she emphasised.

"It is proud of the freedom of expression guaranteed under our Constitution. In that context, we respect the statements made by Pakistanis regarding our democratic process. It is part of our democratic process that Pakistanis, wherever they are, speak about Pakistan's political process. Therefore, we do not have any comments regarding Pakistanis making comments about our own political system," she further added.

When asked whether the US raised the issue privately with Pakistan, the spokesperson said that she was not aware of any messaging between the two sides on the issue. "In regards to the comment referred to by the US State Department, I am not aware of the bilateral messaging that has taken place post-elections," she stated.

Read: Results announced amidst rigging allegations

To a question whether the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be invited to the oath-taking ceremony of the new prime minister, Baloch emphasized that such decisions rested with the incoming administration. "It is the incoming government to decide and give policy direction," she stated.

She reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to fostering friendly relations with Afghanistan, reiterating that there had been no change in the country's Afghan policy.

Regarding China's recent decision to accept a Taliban-appointed Ambassador, Baloch emphasised Pakistan's commitment to making decisions in accordance with its laws and national interests.

"Pakistan will take any decisions in this respect according to its own laws and national priorities. And as I said, any future direction in this respect will be set by the newly elected government," she said.