As Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Imran Khan threatens to stage a mass protest against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad, the United States has indicated its support for the elected government while also upholding the right to a peaceful protest.
“We support the democratically elected Government of Pakistan. We also support the peaceful right of protest. But this is an internal matter for the Pakistani Government and Pakistani authorities to speak to,” State Department Spokesman John Kirby said.
Sharif is facing political pressures to start a probe into allegations as revealed in Panama Papers that he stashed his money in offshore accounts.
Imran Khan launched a similar campaign against Sharif government on charges of rigging in 2013 elections and months-long demonstrations weakened the government and is believed to have ceded ground to Pakistan’s military in the country’s peculiar power equation.
