By Asif Shahzad

ISLAMABAD (Reuters – Pakistan’s strong military has dismissed Imran Khan’s claim that the United States plotted to topple him during a parliamentary vote.

Khan (69), who led South Asia’s nuclear-armed country with 220 million inhabitants for 3 1/2 years, accused Washington, accusing him of supporting his ouster, because he had visited Moscow against U.S. instructions. Washington refutes the allegation.

On February 24, when Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Khan met Vladimir Putin, the Russian President.

Khan first blocked the motion of no confidence, claiming that a group of military and civil leaders called the National Security Committee had supported the conspiracy.

Babar Iftikhar was the military’s spokesperson.

You can clearly see if there is any conspiracy within that statement. He said this at a news conference to refer to a NSC statement from last month that expressed concerns over the non-diplomatic language in a cable sent by a “foreign” country, widely believed to be the United States about the no confidence vote.

Pakistan’s lower House of Parliament voted on Sunday in favor of Khan being removed.

Analysts and opponents of Khan claim that the military helped him win the election. But, this support has dwindled after the fallout regarding the appointment last year for the nation’s next intelligence chief.

Fawad Chaudhry was Khan’s former Information Minister. He called for a judicial investigation into Khan’s accusation of conspiring with the United States to overthrow him.

Khan was denied by Iftikhar’s statement that Qamar Javed Baswa, the chief of army staff, offered mediation in Khan’s impasse with the opposition.

He said that Khan asked Bajwa instead to inform the opposition in his place that he would hold snap elections if there was no confidence motion.

“(Bajwa), went to opposition and put this request before them. After a thorough discussion, they stated that they won’t take such steps and would continue with their plans,” added Iftikhar.

He clarified, as well, that Pakistan had not asked the United States for any military bases there after U.S. forces pulled out of Afghanistan in August last year. Khan’s party claimed that Washington has turned against them after he stated “absolutely” during a television interview to answer a question about whether he would grant the bases to Americans.

Khan made the conspiracy claims in public rallies and demanded snap elections.

2020 is the date for the next Parliamentary Election.