• Says its a domestic issue for Pakistani people. 
• On Ukraine arms deal, Kirby says let Pakistan speak for what it is doing. 
• Says some countries don’t want a lot of public attention on Ukraine support.

ISLAMABAD: The United States has clarified that it has no links with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) protests held outside the White House in the Washington DC, The News reported on Wednesday.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, in a media talk, dismissed the suggestion implied in a question from a journalist that there was some sort of link between PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s removal and the protests in Washington and some sort of American action.

“This is a domestic issue for the Pakistani people and Pakistan’s government can speak to it,” he said.

To a question about Pakistan supplying weapons to Ukraine, Kirby said: “Let Pakistan speak for what it is doing for Ukraine.”

He said more than 50 countries were providing fiscal and moral support along with weapons to Ukraine and the US allowed them to speak for what they were doing.

“Some countries don’t want a lot of public attention on the support they are giving to Ukraine. So we respect it,” said Kirby.

FO rubbishes report on weapons sale 

Kirby’s comment on the alleged weapons sale, came after the Foreign Office, last month, rejected a foreign media report claiming Pakistan was allegedly selling weapons to Ukraine to get the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package.

In its “baseless and fabricated” report, The Intercept — an online news organisation — claimed that Islamabad was secretly selling arms to Kyiv as part of its deal struck with the Washington-based lender.

“These arms sales were intended to supply the Ukrainian military, hence, forcing Pakistan to take a side in the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” the report had claimed.

Responding to media queries about the false report, FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch categorically rejected the story as “baseless and fabricated”.

“The IMF Standby Arrangement for Pakistan was successfully negotiated between Pakistan and the IMF to implement difficult but essential economic reforms. Giving any other colour to these negotiations is disingenuous,” the spokesperson said.

She further said that Islamabad maintains a policy of strict neutrality in the dispute between Ukraine and Russia and in that context, does not provide any arms and ammunition to them.

“Pakistan’s defence exports are always accompanied by strict end-user requirements,” she added.