Imran Khan denounces Trump's anti-Iran speech in Saudi Arabia

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has strongly denounced remarks by US President Donald Trump against Iran during his visit to Saudi Arabia.

The visiting US president made a speech addressed to the so-called Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh on Sunday in which Trump called for the international "isolation" of Iran.

Commenting on Trump’s speech, Khan said on Monday that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was representing Pakistan at the summit, should have taken a stance over the controversial remarks by Trump.

It was Premier Sharif’s duty to emphasize that Pakistan does not want Iran to be isolated, the PTI chief added.

"We had an opportunity, but he kept silent," Khan said, adding, "We do not want the Muslim world to be divided."

"He [the prime minister] should have spoken about the parliamentary resolution which was unanimously accepted by all parties and which said that Pakistan would work to bring the Muslim community together."

In April 2015, Pakistani lawmakers passed a parliamentary resolution that called for Islamabad to maintain a policy of neutrality, particularly in the Saudi aggression against Yemen. The US-backed Saudi campaign, which allegedly seeks to restore Yemen's ex-government to power, has killed over 12,000 Yemenis, according to the latest tallies.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Pakistani opposition leader, who termed Sharif's tour to Saudi Arabia as ineffective, kept accusing the premier of failing to take a stand for Muslim countries. 

Trump had failed to mention the sacrifices rendered by Pakistan in the war against terror, and Sharif had failed to correct him, Khan said

Considering the destruction Pakistan has suffered due to its involvement in "the wars of others," it should have been highlighted by the prime minister that the country "will not be a partisan to these matters," the PTI chief stated.

"The most important thing is that he [Trump] did not even mention Pakistan ... the country that fought America's war and lost 70,000 people," Khan said, adding, "The country became a front-line state and sacrificed lives in the war but ... instead [Trump] praised [India]."

"He [Trump] praised India for making sacrifices and did not speak about the atrocities being committed against the Kashmiris ... he did not speak about Palestinians."

Meanwhile, Robert Fisk, a celebrated English writer and journalist, has criticized the US president's speech in Riyadh, saying Saudi Arabia, not the Islamic Republic of Iran, is the “fountainhead” of terrorism in the Middle East.

Fisk made the remarks in an article, titled “Donald Trump’s speech to the Muslim world was filled with hypocrisy and condescension,” published by The Independent on Monday, a day after the US president spoke to a gathering of Muslim and Arab leaders in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Read more: 

• Saudi Arabia, not Iran, is the ‘fountainhead’ of terrorism: Fisk

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