Then-prime minister Imran Khan waves a piece of paper he claims is the cipher outlining a ‘conspiracy’ to oust his government
U.S.-based news organization The Intercept on Wednesday published what it claims is the text of a diplomatic cipher that former prime minister Imran Khan has used as “proof” of Washington orchestrating his ouster through a vote of no-confidence last year.
The text published by The Intercept was allegedly penned by then-Pakistani envoy Asad Majeed after a meeting between him and Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu. The Intercept has made it clear that it could not independently verify whether the contents of the cipher it has reproduced are indeed authentic. It has claimed that the document was provided to it by “an anonymous source in the Pakistani military” who claims to have no ties to Khan or his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Its source, the organization claims, “spoke of their growing disillusionment with the country’s military leadership, the impact on the military’s morale following its involvement in the political fight against Khan, the exploitation of the memory of dead service members for political purposes in recent military propaganda, and widespread public disenchantment with the armed forces amid the crackdown.” Echoing commentary from the PTI, the source has claimed the “military is pushing Pakistan toward a crisis similar to the one in 1971 that led to the secession of Bangladesh.” This has led to some speculation that the alleged leak’s source is the PTI itself, especially as Khan has admitted that he “lost” his copy of the cipher.
U.S. response
Reacting to the allegedly leaked document, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a regular press briefing that he could not comment its veracity, as it was a Pakistani document. However, he stressed, “even if those comments were accurate as reported,” its contents did not show the U.S. taking any position on who the leader of Pakistan should be.
“We express concern privately to the Government of Pakistan, as we express concern publicly, about the visit of then-prime minister Khan to Moscow on the very day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We made that concern quite clear,” he said, noting Pakistan’s former envoy to the U.S. had himself stated that allegations of Washington interfering in “internal decisions about the leadership of Pakistan” were false. “As we’ve stated, they’re false. They’ve always been false, and they remain false,” he added.
“I will say that I can understand how those comments, number one, could be taken out of context; and number two, how people might desire for them to be taken out of context, and might try to use them to advance an agenda that is not represented by the comments themselves,” he continued, adding that he thought “a number of people have taken them out of context and used them for political purposes.”
The cipher
According to the alleged document published by The Intercept, then-envoy Majeed met Lu in the presence of several other officials. He said Lu had commenced their conversation with Pakistan’s position on the war in Ukraine, expressing “concern” over its “aggressively neutral position.” He further claimed the U.S. believed this was Khan’s policy, which had been rebutted. “I asked Don if the reason for a strong U.S. reaction was Pakistan’s abstention in the voting in the UNGA,” Majeed allegedly wrote, saying Lu had responded in the negative. “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,” the alleged document quotes Lu as saying, adding he expected a “similar” reaction from Europe.
“[H]onestly I think isolation of the Prime Minister will become very strong from Europe and the United States,” Lu allegedly warned, with Majeed writing that he had further shared the belief that the Moscow visit was planned during the Beijing Olympics. “I told Don that this was a completely misinformed and wrong perception,” states Majeed in the purported cipher, adding he had conveyed Khan’s regret over the Ukraine invasion while he was in Moscow.
He also noted that he had conveyed Pakistan’s fears of the Ukraine crisis diverting focus from Afghanistan, saying this “was also dictating our position” on the situation. He wrote he had then conveyed Pakistan’s perspective, noting Islamabad had sensed a “reluctance on the part of the U.S. leadership to engage with our leadership.” This view, he allegedly told Lu, was bolstered by a feeling that the U.S. expected Pakistan’s support on all issues important to it, while not offering any reciprocation, particularly on Kashmir. “I said that it was extremely important to have functioning channels of communication at the highest level to remove such perception,” he allegedly wrote, adding “surprise” that Pakistan’s position on Ukraine was so important to the U.S. “Don 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,” read the alleged document.
The envoy also raised concerns over the “different criteria” being applied by the U.S. to the position on Ukraine of India and Pakistan. “I said that from the [Senate subcommittee] hearing, it appeared that the U.S. expected more from India than Pakistan, yet it appeared to be more concerned about Pakistan’s position,” he wrote, saying Lu had said Washington looked at the U.S.-India relationship through the lens of China.
According to the allegedly leaked document, when Majeed expressed the hope Khan’s visit to Russia would not impact Pak-U.S. bilateral ties, Lu said: “I would argue that it has already created a dent in the relationship from our perspective. Let us wait for a few days to see whether the political situation changes, which would mean that we would not have a big disagreement about this issue and the dent would go away very quickly. Otherwise, we will have to confront this issue head on and decide how to manage it.”
In an assessment note Majeed allegedly attached to the cipher, he said he did not believe Lu would’ve issued “such a strong demarche” without the express approval of the White House. “Clearly, Don 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 U.S.,” he added.
Former minister speaks
Reacting to the alleged leak, former interior minister Rana Sanaullah said there was “nothing new” in the story reported by The Intercept. However, he added, a probe was required to “establish the authenticity of the information or source document.” He warned that if it were factual, it was “potentially” a “very sinister, treacherous, and seditious act.”
In a posting on Twitter, he recalled that Khan had retained a copy of the cipher that had not been returned “and [he] has accepted (on record) that he misplaced or lost it.” If the alleged document were traced back to Khan, he warned, the former prime minister should be tried under the Official Secret Act.