![]() and China have been strained, China has been helping Pakistan's efforts to overcome its deepening economic crisis,Ĭhina has invested billions of dollars in Pakistan, much of it in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is a sprawling package that includes everything from road construction and power plants to agriculture. One of them is Pakistan’s desire to assuage concerns from China, which was not invited. Pakistani analyst Imtiaz Gull, executive director at the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies, said there were multiple factors behind Pakistan's decision to skip the summit. He said hundreds of Khan supporters have been detained in recent weeks. Amnesty International said “blasphemy allegations continued to spark violence against both religious minorities and Muslims” in 2022.įawad Chaudhry, a senior leader from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, at a news conference in Islamabad released a report describing how the current government under Sharif is continuing a crackdown on Khan supporters that began with his ouster in April. These include enforced disappearances, curtailments on peaceful assembly, and tightening of controls on freedom of speech. The summit is taking place days after a leading international rights group in its annual report expressed concern over continued violations of human rights in Pakistan. We remain committed to further solidifying this relationship for peace, stability, and prosperity in the region,” it said. "Under this Biden Administration, this relationship has widened and expanded substantially. In Tuesday's statement, the foreign ministry under Sharif said Pakistan values its friendship with the United States. Since then, Khan has alleged that the vote that removed him was a U.S.-organized plot, a charge that Washington and Khan's successor Shahbaz Sharif have denied. Two months later Khan, who served as prime minister for over 3 1/2 years, was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament by an alliance of major political parties. Relations between Washington and Khan were further strained when Khan visited Moscow in February 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Pakistan did not attend the 2021 summit amid growing tension between the government of then-Prime Minister Imran Khan and the U.S. “Pakistan would engage bilaterally with the United States and co-hosts of the Summit to promote and strengthen democratic principles and values and work towards advancing human rights and the fight against corruption," the statement said. ![]() ![]() It has a functional democracy, although critics say Pakistan ranks among the worst democracies in the world. Pakistan is the fifth largest country in the world with a population of over 220 million. Pakistan was also not part of the first and only other summit held in December 2021. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry in a statement thanked the United States and its co-hosts for the invitation. ![]()
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