Imran names US official who made ‘threat’

Published April 4, 2022
This combo photo shows Prime Minister Imran Khan (left) and US Assistant Secretary of  State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu. — Photo courtesy: Radio Pakistan/US State Dept website
This combo photo shows Prime Minister Imran Khan (left) and US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu. — Photo courtesy: Radio Pakistan/US State Dept website

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday shared more details about the threat he said he had been facing since early last month.

After the house was prorogued, a number of PTI leaders rushed to the PM Office and felicitated the prime minister on the “success of his surprise move”.

In remarks that were televised, the PM told them that when the National Security Council (NSC) had condemned the involvement of an external force in no-trust resolution, counting [of votes on the motion] had become “irrelevant”.

Mr Khan revealed that the US had sent a threatening message through Pakistan’s envoy. He was quoted as saying that US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu had reportedly in a meeting with Ambassador Asad Majeed warned there could be implications if he survived the opposition’s no-confidence motion in the National Assembly.

Read: Can the PM's claims of a foreign plot against his govt be described as self-obsessed?

The PM said he had reports that PTI dissidents had frequented the [US] embassy. “What were the reasons that the people, who have left us, met people of the embassy frequently in the last few days,” he wondered.

He termed the deputy speaker’s ruling as “shocking” to the opposition. In fact, Mr Khan said the opposition was unable to understand what had happened. If he had told them [opposition] about his surprise a day earlier, they would not have been shocked this much, he added.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2022

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