Daily Times

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday that ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi found out about the diplomatic cypher by “chance”, adding that it was intended for former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Talking to media in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, he claimed that all efforts were made to suppress the cypher issue as it would have exposed US diplomat Donald Lu. Imran said that Asad Majeed, the Pakistani ambassador, recommended demarche in an official meeting on Donald Lu’s talk but now it is being said that there was no conspiracy.

“If there was nothing in the cypher then why demarche was issued [to the United States]. Does anyone ever demarches the US,” he questioned. Imran said that no country was issued a demarche during PTI’s three-and-a-half-year tenure. However, he added, PTI members started defecting after the cypher issue. He said that Raja Riaz and other members had started visiting the US embassy after the issue emerged, claiming that this development was also confirmed in an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report.

“Bajwa hired Husain Haqqani in October 2021 without our knowledge, paid him $35,000, and had Haqqani tweet that Imran is anti-America while Bajwa is pro-America.” Imran said that the case against PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz was different, as both were disqualified, claiming that PML-N President Shehbaz had complete support from Bajwa.