ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Contrary to what Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its loyalist journalists claim that the former Prime Minister Imran Khan used the cipher for political motives and it had no element of conspiracy and threat, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has himself admitted once that the concerned US Official used threatening language as apprised by the former Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Asad Majeed Khan to the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting.
In his speech on the floor of the National Assembly on May 09, 2022, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif admitted that Ambassador Asad Majeed told the NSC that threatening language was in fact used in the communication by the US Official; however, nothing was conspired on the part of the US against Imran Khan.
Describing the threatening language from the US for Pakistani top authorities as a ‘routine matter’, Shahbaz Sharif reminded that the former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger threatened the former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and the former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage hurled threats at Pakistani Officials following the 9/11 terror attack.
It must be born in mind that even the former former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was also the found of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), in his address before the Parliament in late April 1977 also accused the United States for conspiring against him and extending financial assistant to his opponent nine-party Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) to run a mass movement to overthrow his regime.
Imran Khan and the top PTI leaders claimed that the US Official had warned Pakistan of dire consequences if Prime Minister Imran Khan wasn’t removed from the Office through the No Confidence Motion.
The PML-N and a bunch of journalists believed to be very close to the PDM government claim that there was no threats from the US in the communication but in fact, the US Official ‘merely’ uttered abusive or derogatory remarks for Imran Khan.
Since cipher, or as also spelled as cypher, is a secret document; therefore, what exactly is written therein remains unknown to journalists etc. In addition, nowhere in any meeting, the text of the US cipher has been elaborated to media, which could endorse or negate the assertions by the PTI leadership.
It’s worth mentioning that initially PML-N even declined to accept the very existence of the cipher and described it a political stunt by Imran Khan using a blank piece of paper to deceive the people.
Maryam Nawaz used to term cipher a ‘fake letter’
In a Press Conference in Lahore on April 05, 2022, the PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz – flanked by Rana Sanaullah and Pervaiz Rasheed – alleged that Imran Khan not only used a fake letter but he also misused the platform of the NSC to save his government.
Though weeks later, another National Security Committee meeting held under the chairmanship of Shahbaz Sharif, reaffirmed the decision of the previous NSC meeting which Maryam Nawaz said “was misused”.
Maryam Nawaz also alleged that Imran Khan waved an empty paper during his jalsa in Islamabad on March 27, 2022.
So if that was a blank paper or fake latter which Imran Khan waved in the public gathering as claimed by PML-N’s top leadership including Maryam Nawaz and Khawaja Asif in the Parliament, then what for and how the PDM government is now mulling to try Imran Khan for unveiling a secret document to the public under the Secret Act?
Maryam Nawaz suspected role of Ambassador Asad Majeed, now Foreign Secretary, in ‘cipher drama’
The PML-N Vice President also alleged that the cipher was drafted at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad, and added that realizing that he had already let the cat out of the bag and wanted to hide his hoax, Imran Khan ‘smuggled’ Ambassador Asad Majeed to Brussels immediately so that no one could question him.
Interestingly, now the same Asad Majeed Khan is serving as the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan under the Shahbaz Sharif’s government.
The issue of cipher hit the surface once again after Azam Khan, the Principal Secretary to the former Prime Minister Imran Khan, reportedly recorded a confessional statement before a magistrate, alleging that the Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan built a false narrative using the cipher to garner masses support and malign the establishment and the then opposition.
It was quite surprising that Azam Khan had been missing since mid-June and not only a FIR was registered at the Kohsar Police Station in Islamabad after his family pleaded for his recovery but a hearing had also been underway in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in Azam Khan Missing Case.
The Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah told media after Azam Khan’s statement emerged that the former Principal Secretary was in hiding with a friend of his own accord.
Rana Sanaullah told that Azam Khan was avoiding to appear to make a thoughtful decision. He said that ending his self-imposed disappearance was also Azam Khan’s own decision and he is now at his home.
If Rana Sanaullah’s statement is to be believed in, then why the former Principal Secretary didn’t tell his own family about his whereabouts and left them suffering from extreme distress and pain.
Ironically, two National Security Committee (NSC) meetings held on March 31, 2022 and April 22, 2022 noted that it was a ‘blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan’ by the US and the language used by the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald L in the meeting with Ambassador Asad Majeed regarding the former Prime Minister Imran Khan was ‘undiplomatic’.
It was also decided that Pakistan would issue a strong demarche to the United States.
Though the National Security Committee meeting held on April 22 with Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in the chair concluded that the Country’s premier security agencies found no evidence of any conspiracy by the US.
Since the outset, the former Prime Minister Imran Khan has demanded a high-powered Judicial Commission to probe the foreign conspiracy while President Dr. Arif Alvi and the former Deputy National Assembly Speaker Qasim Suri also forwarded separate letters to the Chief Justice of Pakistan for an investigation to ascertain the fact behind the US cipher but all went in vain.
