The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has welcomed the statement of Richard Grenell, US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee as envoy for special missions — who advocated for the release of incarcerated party founder Imran Khan, with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) urging the United States to respect the country’s sovereignty.
Grenell, who is also a close confidant of Trump, garnered attention in Pakistan when he demanded the release of Imran, who was ousted in April 2022 through a parliamentary no-confidence vote.
“Release Imran Khan,” Trump’s ally tweeted on November 26 — the day when authorities launched a late-night crackdown against PTI protesters marching on Islamabad’s D-Chowk.
A day earlier, Grenell — while talking to a US media outlet — said that the US had a much better relationship with Pakistan during the Trump administration when Imran Khan was the leader of Pakistan because “he was an outsider”.
“He [Imran Khan] was a former cricket player, he wasn’t a politician and he spoke in very common sense language, and he and Donald Trump had a very good relationship,” he said.
Reiterating his demand to release Imran, he said: “There are a lot of the same allegations just like President Trump, where the ruling party put him in prison and created some sort of corruption allegations and false allegations.”
Grenell has held several critical roles during Trump’s first administration, including US ambassador to Germany, Special Envoy for Serbia and Kosovo Peace Negotiations, and Acting Director of National Intelligence.
