——– Pakistani ambassador, in his statement to Special Court, declares Cypher issue was a ‘setback’ for Pakistan-US relations
——– Presents the whole picture to the court
——– Asserts meeting with Lu had happened, both sides were aware of the meeting to be completely recorded
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan ambassador to the United States Asad Majeed on Tuesday denied mentioning any “threat” or “conspiracy” in the secret cypher telegram before a special court.
The court is holding trial of former prime minister Imran Khan and PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi inside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail for allegedly manipulating the cypher for political gains in March 2022, ahead of a no-confidence motion that resulted in the end of the PTI’s rule.
The court presided over by Judge Abual Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain recorded testimonies of six more prosecution witnesses including Majeed today. In his statement, Majeed said that on March 7, 2022, US diplomat Donald Lu was invited to a luncheon which was hosted at the Pakistan House in Washington.
He said that both sides were aware that the minutes of the meeting were being recorded, adding that he reported the conversation in cypher telegram to Islamabad. However, he added that there was no mention of any “threat” or “conspiracy.”
Majeed mentioned being summoned to the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting, where a de-cision to issue demarche to the United States was made after his proposal. He also said the cypher is-sue was a “setback” for Pakistan-US relations.
A day earlier, former foreign secretary Sohail Mahmood also recorded his statement, saying that he retired as the foreign secretary in September 2022. Till that time, the Prime Minister’s Office had not returned the cypher copy to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he said.
Earlier, Azam Khan, the former principal secretary of the ex-PM had also told the court that the copy of the cypher had been misplaced by Imran.
In his testimony given in the court on January 18, Azam Khan had claimed that Imran Khan directed his military secretary and personal staff “a number of times” to search for the cypher, but then he waved a piece of paper in the public rally on March 27 “implying” that it was the diplomatic cypher.
Referring to the incident, the former bureaucrat had, however, clarified that “as he [Imran Khan] did not open or read it [in the rally], therefore, I do not know what the paper was.”
