WASHINGTON: The US State Department has said that the United States still believes Pakistan’s last elections were free and fair, as it did in 2013 when the polls were held.

In 2013, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement soon after the results were announced, congratulating the people of Pakistan for holding such successful elections.

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At a news briefing in Washington, the department’s spokesperson Jen Psaki also noted that protests at D-Chowk in Islamabad had subsided and the situation was returning to normal.

“Nothing has changed in our view. You know how closely we’re watching the situation,” said Ms Psaki when asked if the United States still considered the 2013 elections as “free and fair” as it did when they were held or it agreed with Imran Khan’s claim that the polls were rigged.

“As I understand in Pakistan, the protests have died down and things have calmed a bit in the streets,” said the US official.

“I also want to make clear that our embassy is fully open there in Islamabad. I know there was some confusion about that yesterday,” she added.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2014