WASHINGTON: The United States and Pakistan appear to have reached a point of agreement in the so-called ‘Cable-Gate’ dispute, that Washington did not hatch a conspiracy to topple the PTI government.

This common factor was acknowledged publicly on Thursday when the Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a news briefing in Rawalpindi dismissed former prime minister Imran Khan’s claim of a foreign “conspiracy” to push him out.

Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar pointed out at this briefing that the National Security Committee (NSC) – which includes the army and ISI chiefs – did not use the word “conspiracy” in its statement on the “Cable-Gate” claims. The NSC, however, had noted in its statement earlier this month that the message conveyed by a State Department official was a “blatant interference” in Pakistan’s internal affairs.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2022