Allegations against Imran Khan, Donald Lu, the Assistant Secretary of State for Trade and Economic Affairs, described Imran Khan’s claim that the American government supported the then-opposition’s no-confidence motion in April 2022 for the purpose of toppling the PTI government as a “conspiracy theory.”.
A senior US diplomat testified, on Wednesday, before a Congressional panel: “This conspiracy theory could not be farther from the truth, and it is a complete falsehood. I want to be very clear about this point.”.
In a hearing held by the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of the US Congress on Wednesday, the assistant secretary of state was the key witness in examining the future of democratic governance in Pakistan and the US-Pakistan relationship after the election.
In response to a question about the former prime minister’s allegations, the US assistant secretary said he had read about a leaked cipher that Khan said contained Lu’s threat, which he said was made in a meeting in Washington days before the ouster of the PTI-led government in 2022 with then-Pakistan’s ambassador Asad Majeed.
I, nor the United States government, are accused of taking action against Imran Khan at any point in the document.
Asad Majeed, Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington at the time, also confirmed to the US diplomat that there was no conspiracy against Pakistan, in addition to his testimony to his government.
In his remarks, he stated that “We respect the sovereignty of Pakistan, and we respect the principle that the Pakistani people are the only ones who should be able to elect their leaders through democratic processes.”
A controversy arose on March 27, 2022, when Khan, less than a month before he was ousted in April 2022, waved a letter to the crowd during a public rally. He claimed that the letter was a cipher from a foreign country that had conspired against him and his political opponents to overthrow the PTI government, sparking a cipher controversy.
This letter had not been revealed to him, nor did he reveal what it contained, nor did he mention the name of the nation from which it came. It wasn’t long before he started accusing the United States of conspiring against him, and he claimed that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had asked him to leave, and he was being pushed from the position.
During the time of the Asad Majeed ambassadorship to the US, the cipher was sent by the Pakistani ambassador.
A ‘fraudulent election’ allegation has been made
In an interview with The Washington Post about the February 8 general election, the assistant secretary of state urged an investigation into the electoral fraud allegations and said the US was closely monitoring the investigation into the allegations of rigging.
During the February 8 elections, he also mentioned that “undue restrictions” were put on the right to freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly.
According to the US diplomat, “we are condemning the violence that occurred during the recent electoral process, as well as the restrictions on fundamental and human rights and internet services.”.
During the press conference, Lu said that the US government wanted the Pakistani government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take responsibility for any rigging in the election, pledging to encourage all parties involved in the process to be transparent.
It is his belief that more than 5,000 independent observers were monitoring the elections in Pakistan in the field and that their organizations concluded that the election was largely competitive and orderly, though some irregularities were noted in completing the results, which led to the conclusion that the election was generally competitive and orderly.
An assistant secretary of state has noted that Pakistan is an important US partner, stating that Washington shares the country’s commitment to strengthening its democratic institutions, supporting the Green Alliance framework between Pakistan and the US, and working together to combat threats emanating from groups like al-Qaeda and Daesh.
Timenews1 provided that news.
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