Imran Khan was removed from power in April 2022 after he lost a no-confidence vote in parliament. At the time, Khan called his ouster a “conspiracy” backed by the US and has ever since been pushing for elections.
The Intercept published its report on Wednesday, four days after Khan was arrested in Lahore and sentenced to three years in jail on graft charges, which he has dismissed.
The American news outlet, citing a secret cable called “cypher”, says that last year's no-confidence parliamentary vote that led to Khan’s ouster was held a month after a meeting between the then-Pakistani ambassador to Washington and State Department officials.
"The diplomatic meeting came two weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which launched as Khan was en route to Moscow, a visit that infuriated Washington."
According to the secret document, which The Intercept says was provided “by an anonymous source in the Pakistani military who said that they had no ties to Imran Khan or Khan’s party”, the State Department officials pushed for the removal of Khan over his “neutrality” on the Ukraine war. They promised “warmer relations if Khan was removed, and isolation if he was not.”
“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 report citing the document quoting Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu as saying.
On March 2, five days before the meeting with Pakistani Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan was held, Lu attended a Senate hearing to answer congress members’ questions over the “neutrality of India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan in the Ukraine conflict”, the report said.
In response to a question on Pakistan’s abstention from a UN resolution condemning Russia for the Ukraine war, Lu said, “Prime Minister Khan has recently visited Moscow, and so I think we are trying to figure out how to engage specifically with the Prime Minister following that decision”, according to the Intercept.
Incumbent Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has reacted to the leaked document by the American news outlet. He said that if the alleged contents were true, it was tantamount to a “massive crime”, according to Pakistan’s Dawn Newspaper.
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