- Says ex-COAS, other service chiefs had confirmed there’s no conspiracy against Pakistan
- Claims PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif would return to Pakistan next month
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday described as “massive crime” if the alleged contents of the much-touted diplomatic cipher which former premier Imran Khan cited as proof of a conspiracy against his government, published in a US-based news organisation were true.
In an interview with WE News on Thursday, PM Shehbaz was asked if The Intercept story proved Imran’s claims regarding the cipher and the foreign conspiracy.
“The answer to your question is that two meetings of the National Security Committee were held on the cipher under my leadership. In one of the meetings, former ambassador and Foreign Secretary Asad Majeed clearly stated that there was no discussion of a conspiracy in his meeting with Donald Lu,” the outgoing premier said.
سائفر کے مندرجہ جات جو امریکی اخبار میں چھپے ہیں اگر وہ درست ہیں تو یہ بذات خود بہت بڑا جرم ہے، وزیراعظم شہباز شریف pic.twitter.com/GEU0TRX1nC
— Raza Butt 🎙️ (@SocialDigitally) August 10, 2023
The purported cipher — sent to Islamabad last year by Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US — contained an account of a meeting between US State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, and Pakistani envoy Asad Majeed Khan, and was reproduced on Wednesday by The Intercept.
As per the purported contents of the cable, the US objected to Imran Khan’s foreign policy regarding the Ukraine war.
Although The Intercept has claimed in its report that they were provided with the document by an anonymous source in the Pakistani military “who said that they had no ties to Imran Khan or [Mr] Khan’s party,” many believe that the source of the leak could be the PTI itself.
As per protocol, only a handful of key officials had access to the confidential document. These included the foreign minister, the prime minister and the army chief.
The timing of the purported cable’s publication also seems quite significant, as it comes in the wake of the imprisonment of Imran Khan over charges of graft in the Toshakhana case.
PM Shahbaz said former army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and other service chiefs also confirmed that there was no conspiracy against Pakistan, adding that Majeed too had stated that there was no question of a conspiracy at all.
“Imran Niazi said that this conspiracy was hatched because of his growing relations with Russia … but my government purchased cheap oil from Russia.
“If god forbids this government had come from a US conspiracy, then it would have been a moment of shame for us,” PM Shehbaz asserted.
He also recalled that Imran had himself retracted from his narrative and said that the US never hatched any conspiracy. “Will you consider Imran Niazi’s first statement genuine or the other one?” the prime minister asked, adding that the PTI chairman’s statements were poles apart.
“Can a former prime minister spew hatred against the country to this extent?
“In itself, if the contents of the cipher are published (in the international newspaper), and are if true, then it is a massive crime,” he added.
PM Shehbaz reiterated that Imran’s conspiracy allegations were a “bunch of lies” from “head to toe” and there was no reality in them.
He went on to say that the coalition government worked tirelessly to mend US-Pakistan relations, which he said were damaged during the PTI tenure, and establish mutual respect and trust.
In response to a question on Pakistan’s soured relations with other “brotherly countries”, PM Shehbaz said the Imran-led government had made Saudi Arabia upset.
“I can’t go into details, but to demean Saudi Arabia, efforts were made to form a block to isolate Saudi Arabia,” he claimed, adding that it was “shameful” that a country that had helped Pakistan over all these years was treated in such a way.
The Intercept story
“Don[ald Lu] referred to Pakistan’s position on the Ukraine crisis and said that ‘people here and in Europe are quite concerned about why Pakistan is taking such an aggressively neutral position (on Ukraine), if such a position is even possible. It does not seem such a neutral stand to us.’ He shared that in his discussions with the NSC, ‘it seems quite clear that this is the prime minister’s policy’,” said the excerpt published by The Intercept.
In response, Asad Majeed Khan said that this was not a correct reading of the situation as Pakistan’s position on Ukraine was a result of intense interagency consultations.
“I asked Don[ald Lu] if the reason for a strong US reaction was Pakistan’s abstention in the voting in the UNGA [United Nations General Assembly]. He categorically replied in the negative and said that it was due to the Prime Minister’s visit to Moscow,” The Intercept quoted from the purported cable.
According to the text, Lu then said “I think if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington because the Russia visit is being looked at as a decision by the Prime Minister. Otherwise, I think it will be tough going ahead.”
These words were ostensibly the threat that the former PM alluded to when he claimed there was a US conspiracy to overthrow his government.
“Obviously there is no conspiracy, but for a US official to use these words is unacceptable,” a senior diplomat commented, referring to Lu’s remark that “all will be forgiven” if the vote of no confidence succeeds.
The purported text of the cable details how Asad Majeed Khan tried to dispel the impression that Imran’s visit to Russia was anything but a bilateral one that shouldn’t be seen as an endorsement of Moscow’s action against Ukraine. The ambassador also conveyed how there was also a “feeling that while the US expected Pakistan’s support on all issues that were important to the US, it did not reciprocate and we do not see much US support on issues of concern for Pakistan, particularly on Kashmir.
Asad Majeed Khan also asked the US diplomat that if Pakistan’s position on Ukraine was so important to Washington, why it had not engaged with Islamabad prior to the Russia visit by then-PM Imran Khan.
At this, Donald Lu replied that: “The thinking in Washington was that given the current political turmoil in Pakistan, this was not the right time for such engagement and it could wait till the political situation in Pakistan settled down.”
Subsequently, in his own assessment at the tail-end of the purported text of the cable, Asad Majeed Khan noted that Lu could not have conveyed such a strong sentiment “without the express approval of the White House, to which he referred repeatedly.”
In the envoy’s own assessment, it was clear that Lu “spoke out of turn on Pakistan’s internal political process. We need to seriously reflect on this and consider making an appropriate demarche” to the US charge d’affaires in Islamabad.
‘PML-N supremo returning to Pakistan next month’
Meanwhile, outgoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif would return to Pakistan next month.
“After the caretaker government takes the reins, I intend to take a trip to London where I will finalise the programme with him. If God permits, he will return to Pakistan next month,” Shehbaz said about the expected return of his elder brother on a TV talk show.
قائد محترم جناب میاں محمد نواز شریف ستمبر میں پاکستان تشریف لے آئیں گے.
وزیراعظم شہباز شریف pic.twitter.com/uN6F6BZnHG— PML(N) Media (@PmlnMedia) August 10, 2023
The elder Sharif departed the country in November 2019 for medical treatment following his conviction in a corruption case. He has not returned since and faces multiple cases in Pakistan.
When Shehbaz was asked about the possibility of the caretaker government “creating any issues” for Nawaz upon his return, the PM replied, “He will face the law.”
He further said that God willing, Nawaz would lead the PML-N’s election campaign and assume the role of the prime minister for a fourth time if the PML-N would emerge victorious in the polls.
Nawaz’s expected return next month would also coincide with the retirement of Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, who PML-N leaders have termed an impediment in the way of Nawaz’s return.
Meanwhile, in what was seen as a move to pave the way for Nawaz’s return, the National Assembly and Senate approved the Elections (Amendment) Act 2023 in June, which empowered the Election Commission of Pakistan to unilaterally fix the date for elections and also limits the lawmakers’ disqualification period to five years with retrospective effect.
The bill, dubbed as ‘person-specific legislation’ by the opposition, was expected to benefit Nawaz and newly-formed Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) patron Jahangir Khan Tareen. The two were disqualified for life more than five years ago after a Supreme Court judgement ruled that the disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution was for life.
