ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday wrote to President Dr Arif Alvi and Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial seeking from them a public inquiry and the formation of a judicial commission, respectively, to probe the “threatening letter” which the former insists is evidence of a “conspiracy” to topple Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government.
Before his government was sent packing through a no-trust motion moved by the then opposition, Khan had repeatedly claimed that the former Pakistan ambassador to the US was told by a senior official of the Biden administration that if the no-confidence resolution succeeded, Islamabad could be forgiven otherwise the country could face dire consequences.
He maintains those claims to this day, emphasising the “US-backed conspiracy” in speeches to supporters following his ouster.
In the nearly identical letters, the ex-premier noted that the top judge and president had in their possession copies of the cipher which was given to Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan by US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu.
“The PTI government, as reflected in the last cabinet meeting, was of the view the contents of the cipher clearly reflect a regime change conspiracy to remove PM Imran Khan from the office of the Prime Minister,” the letters said.
The vote of no-confidence against Khan was “engineered”, it continued, reasoning the claim with the “shifting allegiance of the then government’s allied parties” and the “purchase of loyalty of some members of PTI”.
Khan also clarified that the cipher was the reason why the former deputy speaker of the National Assembly had dismissed the no-trust vote until the cipher was investigated.
Subsequently, he requested Justice Bandial and the president to “at least examine the cipher which clearly pointed to a foreign regime change conspiracy” and order an inquiry into it.
He also called on the Supreme Court to constitute a commission to conduct open hearings “in order to establish who all in Pakistan were involved in this regime change conspiracy”.
“Right now the silence from the Supreme Court of Pakistan and Presidency are creating a sense of betrayal and helplessness amongst the people of Pakistan,” the PTI chairman said, adding that this was bringing them out to protest against “what they see is a violation of their democratic right to vote”.
