In a veiled dig at US, Imran Khan praises India for 'sustaining pressure' buying Russian crude

'Pakistan's interest was supreme but unfortunately the local Mir Jafars & Mir Sadiqs bowed to external pressure', Khan said

Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan once again praised India for buying discounted oil from Russia despite being a key member of a US-led Quad alliance.

"Despite being part of the Quad, India sustained pressure from the US and bought discounted Russian oil to provide relief to the masses," Khan said in a tweet.

"This is what our government was working to achieve with the help of an independent foreign policy," he added.

In a second tweet, Khan claimed that for his government, "Pakistan's interest was supreme but unfortunately the local Mir Jafars & Mir Sadiqs bowed to external pressure, forcing a regime change and are now running around like a headless chicken with the economy in a tailspin".

The former premier also tagged to his tweet a South Asia Index report, saying: "After buying discounted oil from Russia, the Indian government reduced petrol price by 9.5 rupees per litre, Diesel price has also been reduced by 7 rupees per litre."

Michael Kugelman, a scholar of South Asian affairs at the Wilson Centre, Washington, also referred to this report, saying: "This is why Khan was praising India during his final days as Prime Minister."

He pointed out that Khan wanted to import wheat and eventually gas from Russia, Dawn reported.