A US media outlet has recently claimed that the State Department encouraged the Pakistani government in a March 7, 2022 meeting to remove Imran Khan as Prime Minister over his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The online paper published the text of leaked Pakistani cable, produced from the meeting by the ambassador and transmitted to Pakistan, mentioning both the carrots and the sticks that the State Department deployed in its push against Khan, promising warmer relations if Khan was removed, and isolation if he retains his office. According to the report, US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu raised the issue of the no confidence motion against then Prime Minister Khan and was noted that all will be forgiven if a vote against Khan succeeds because Washington looks his Russia’s trip as a sole decision by the Premier himself. Otherwise, it will be tough going ahead and Pakistan would face marginalization and diplomatic isolation by its western allies including Europe and the United States. The report claimed that after the warning by the US officials, the Pakistani military managed the situation and things moved in the direction, which resulted in success of no-confidence vote and ultimate ouster of Mr. Khan from the premiership of the country.
The saga of foreign conspiracy and cipher rigmarole rebirth once again after almost one year and a half when a US based online media outlet published the content of the leaked diplomatic cable commonly known as cipher containing detailed discussion held between Pakistan envoy Dr. Asad Majeed Khan and US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Les Vegureie in the presence of than Pakistan Defense Attache (DA) and Deputy Chief of the Mission (DCM) on March 7, 2022. The paper briefly described the events led to and immediately followed the ouster of Popular Pakistani leader, who for the first time waved that cipher in the air during a public rally in Islamabad and disclosed a conspiracy alegedly hatched by a foreign power without naming the US to oust him from the country’s premiership. Khan claimed that he was punished for his pro-nation independent foreign policy, and a pre-planned visit to Moscow ahead of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, apparently to normalize relations with Kremlin and buy cheaper Russian oil, fertilizer and wheat grains. The transcript published by the America media also mentioned that US senior diplomats categorically conveyed that Washington was unhappy over Khan’s visit to Moscow and Pakistan’s foreign relations with Europe and America likely to sour if the no-confidence vote to deseat Khan from Prime Minister office. There had been a flurry of questions on State Department Spokesperson, and Pakistani authorities for confirmation of the story and authentication of the allegations levelled by the PTI Chief in the past but no one was present to andwer those queries and satisfy needs of the media.
Historically, Pak-US ties had always been of transactional nature and Islamabad never enjoyed an all time promising relationship with Washington throughout history. South Asian nation faced periodic coercion and diplomatic isolation from the United States and allies on the charges of nuclear proliferation, terrorism safe havens, Afghan policy and other contentious issues in the shape of Pressler amendment,Glen and Symington Amendments and infamous South Asia strategy of Trump administration but all those politically motivated unilateral actions of the successive US administrations failed to persuade Islamabad to change its stated position in any case. Hence, Washington’s displeasure over Khan’s efforts to improve relations with Moscow or Beijing was less likely to compel Pakistani establishment to deseat popular Pakistani leader to appease Washington, whose friendship always proved to be a water drop that vanished after touching the land.
As a case in point, dozens of the world nations including India, Sri Lanka, Gulf and African nations did not support Western nations in the Russia-Ukraine war and stayed neutral at the global level. Washington is still ok with them and trying to garner their support through motivation, political and economic incentives while Pakistan was the only nation that was liable to regime change for its noncooperation, trade and economic ties with Moscow that is something unbelievable and mysterious.
In fact, Khan’s months-long antagonism over appointment of the new Spy Chief was the beginning of the rift in military-government ties that not only set the stage for no-confidence motion but prompted the military’s search for an alternative. Thus post cipher events were not only well aligned with the conspiracy theory and resulted in the removal of Khan’s government but also caused great embarrassment and diplomatic tension between Islamabad and Washington. Apparently, the doubts and speculations regarding the foreign conspiracy and US pressure would be surfaced in due course of time that will not only expose the different characters of the Pakistani politics and bureaucracy but also highlight the weaknesses of Pakistani state institutions that fails to rescue their nation by not playing a constitutional role during the crucial moments in the country’s history.
