The National Security Committee (NSC) has met on Thursday on the issue of the threat letter waved by Prime Minister Imran Khan during a public rally in Islamabad in recent days. The country’s top security forum called the communication of a foreign country’s senior official a “blatant interference” in the internal affairs of Pakistan and decided to issue a strong demarche to the country in question. According to details, National Security Adviser, Moeed Yusuf briefed the committee on the formal communication of the foreign country’s senior official to Pakistan’s ambassador in the said country in a formal meeting, which was duly conveyed by the ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The farce of the threat letter was revealed by Prime Minister Imran Khan during his speech to a political gathering of his party in Islamabad on March 27, when a large number of PTI workers gathered on Premier’s desire to hear about the trump card likely to be announced by the Prime Minister in a response to opposition’s no-confidence motion against him in the National Assembly. The Prime Minister told the gathering that he had a written threat from a foreign country that is sponsoring a conspiracy against his government through the provision of funds for buying the loyalties of the MPs. According to him, the opposition, particularly PML-N’s Supremo Mian Nawaz Sharif, is involved in the conspiracy along with a few members of his party, however, the Prime Minister did not reveal the name of the country behind the plot quoting the sensitivity attached to the matter. Later, the Premier agreed to share the letter with the Chief Justice of Pakistan if the need arises. Meanwhile, the ruling party lost the support of its allies in the parliament and the Prime Minister confronted a real challenge of the survivability of his stay in the Prime Minister’s office. Then, Prime Minister briefed the senior journalists and cabinet members about the threat letter and finally called a meeting of the NSC at a time when the opposition proved its majority in the Parliament and his government was a guest until the poll in the Assembly.
In fact, the story of foreign-sponsored conspiracy has been revealed in episodes by the Prime Minister and his aides, who have leveled serious charges against the opposition as well as the country in question. Apparently, it is a letter from a Pakistani diplomat addressed to the Foreign Office in which the Diplomat stated details of a frank discussion during a meeting with the official of the host country, the personal view of the foreign official along with his assessment regarding the future trajectory of the bilateral relations or political situation in the country, which is being portrayed as a grave threat by the government. There was a need that the government would have consulted the experts to ascertain the nature of the letter and the threat if any before creating hype at the highest level and formal response to the country concerned to avoid any subsequent embarrassment.
Presently, the Country’s Premier is using a diplomatic matter as a political card against the opposition to fail the no-confidence motion against him, however, such action can flare up a serious diplomatic tussle with the concerning country and would have dire political and diplomatic consequences for Pakistan in future.
