Pakistan: Imran Khan Names US Diplomat Instrumental in No-trust Vote 'Conspiracy' Against Him

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday said he has surprised the Opposition after he received the presidential nod for the dissolution of Parliament, avoiding the no-confidence motion against him and reiterated allegations of “foreign conspiracy” in changing the country’s regime.

Khan named US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu as the person who has allegedly “warned” a Pakistan envoy to the US and said Lu was instrumental in the Opposition’s filing of the no-confidence motion against his government. Donald Lu has served in India, Pakistan as a political officer and was also Deputy Envoy at the American embassy in New Delhi. He speaks fluent Hindi, and Urdu.

Lu had been named before. The PTI-led government on Wednesday confirmed that its allegation about a foreign conspiracy against the prime minister was based on a diplomatic cable received from one of the country’s missions abroad. The government initially offered to share the letter with the chief justice of Pakistan, but later the prime minister also briefed his cabinet members about the contents of the letter

Reports said a Pakistani envoy was told by a senior official of the host country that they had issues with Prime Minister Khan’s foreign policy, especially his visit to Russia and the stance on the ongoing war in Ukraine. PTI claims the Pakistani envoy was conveyed that the future trajectory of relations between the two countries was contingent upon the fate of the no-confidence motion that the Opposition parties were then planning to bring against Khan.

The cable was reportedly sent on March 7 a day before the Opposition submitted the no-confidence motion and requisitioned a National Assembly session for voting on it. Meanwhile, it has separately emerged that the cable was sent by Pakistan’s then ambassador to United States Asad Majeed based on his meeting with Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, Dawn newspaper reported.

The US has asserted that it did not send any letter to Pakistan on the current political situation in the country. a State Department spokesperson said: “There is no truth to these allegations.” According to some diplomatic sources in Washington, the letter could be a diplomatic cable from Washington, drafted by a senior Pakistani diplomat.

The 69-year-old cricketer-turned-politician on Sunday survived the no-trust vote he was sure to lose after it was dismissed as “unconstitutional” by Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri in the National Assembly, leading to vociferous protests by the Opposition.

Khan, who had effectively lost majority in the 342-member National Assembly, made a brief address to the nation in which the prime minister said he has recommended the dissolution of the House and fresh elections. Khan congratulated the nation for the no-trust motion being dismissed, saying the deputy speaker had “rejected the attempt of changing the regime [and] the foreign conspiracy”.

“The nation should prepare for the new elections,” he said, adding that the no-confidence was actually a “foreign agenda”.

In a series of tweets against the Opposition who have moved Supreme Court against the decision to dissolve the assembly, Khan attacked the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). “Isn’t it better for PDM to accept elections rather than being part of a foreign conspiracy for regime change; and indulging in blatant purchasing of loyalties thereby destroying our nation’s moral fibre?” he said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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