Donald Lu, the US Assistant Secretary of State, has once again denied former Prime Minister Imran Khan's accusations that the US orchestrated his demise by backing the opposition's no-confidence motion in April 2022.
On Wednesday, the top US ambassador said before a Congressional panel, "I want to be very clear on this point [that] this conspiracy theory is a lie and a complete falsehood."
The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee announced the hearing, headlined 'Pakistan After the Elections: Examining the Future of Democracy in Pakistan and the US-Pakistan Relationship,' in which the assistant secretary appeared as a key witness.
Donald Lu said, “I want to be very clear on this point. These allegations and this conspiracy theory are a lie; they are a complete falsehood. I have reviewed the press reporting related to this, what's called the cipher in Pakistan, the alleged leak of diplomatic cable from the embassy. Here it's called the cipher in Pakistan, the alleged leak of diplomatic cable from the embassy. Here it is not accurate; at no point does it accuse the United States government or me personally of taking steps against Imran Khan, and thirdly, the other person in the meeting, the then ambassador of Pakistan to the United States, has testified to his own government that there was no conspiracy. We respect the sovereignty of Pakistan, and we respect the principle that Pakistani people should be the only ones choosing their own leaders through a democratic process.”
Donald Lu also said that these unfounded allegations have resulted into regular death threats for him and his family.
Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu tells the US Congress Foreign Affairs Committee hearing how he got death threats after Imran Khan accused him of sabotaging the PTI government pic.twitter.com/QLOLYyWQvs
— omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) March 20, 2024
The cipher controversy began on March 27, 2022, when Khan, less than a month before his ouster in April 2022, waved a letter in front of people, claiming that it was a cipher from a foreign nation conspiring with his political rivals to topple the PTI government.
He did not divulge the letter's contents or the name of the country from whence it arrived. However, a few days later, he accused the United States of plotting against him, claiming that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had urged his removal.