WASHINGTON: Pakistan Tehre­ek-i-Insaf (PTI) held a large rally outside the White House on Sunday evening where they once again blamed the Biden administration for involvement in ‘regime change’ in Pakistan.

So far, it was PTI’s largest rally outside the White House since their government was toppled in April last year. People had come from all over the East Coast, including Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York. Even the rain failed to dampen the spirits of hundreds of PTI supporters who gathered in a park facing the White House to demand the immediate release of their leader, former prime minister Imran Khan.

“Who caused the regime change in Pakistan? The Biden administration, that’s who we blame,” said Sajjad Burki, the PTI chairman’s focal person in the United States.

He once again raised questions about a luncheon last year between the then-Pakistani ambassador Asad Majeed Khan and a senior US State Department official, Donald Lu. Imran Khan and his supporters claim that at this meeting Mr Lu urged the Pakistani establishment to remove Imran Khan from power if they wanted good relations with Washington.

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On dozens of occasions, US officials have rejected this claim as “baseless and false,” clarifying that Washington was not interested in removing or bringing a particular leader and would work with whosoever is chosen by the Pakistani citizens. Recently, Mr Khan and his party had also backpedalled on this issue, blaming actors within Pakistan for removing their government last year.

But at Sunday’s rally, Mr Burki urged the Biden administration to “hold a congressional hearing on the luncheon meeting that led to major political changes in Pakistan”. “Let Congress determine who forced a regime change in Pakistan,” he thundered.

Imran Khan’s former spokesperson Shahbaz Gill, however, kept his focus on the former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, claiming that it was the retired general who passed on information about the no-confidence move against Imran Khan to Donald Lu. “It was not Donald Lu’s fault, it was Mr Bajwa who shared all the information with him,” he claimed.

Speakers also urged the Biden administration to persuade the Pakistani government to hold fair and credible elections as soon as possible. “Bring Imran Khan out and let him participate in the elections,” one of them said.

“What do we want? Freedom. When do we want it? Now,” chanted the crowd as those on the stage led the chorus. Other popular slogans demanded “complete and unfettered democracy, end to oppression and immediate elections.”

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2023