{"id":73997,"date":"2024-03-22T05:23:04","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T05:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/lu-admitted-ciphers-existence-disagreed-over-content-claims-pti\/"},"modified":"2024-03-22T05:23:04","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T05:23:04","slug":"lu-admitted-ciphers-existence-disagreed-over-content-claims-pti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/lu-admitted-ciphers-existence-disagreed-over-content-claims-pti\/","title":{"rendered":"Lu admitted cipher\u2019s existence, disagreed over content, claims PTI"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

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ISLAMABAD: The PTI has clai\u00adm\u00ad\u00aded that US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu has admitted the cipher\u2019s existence, and his testimony has vindicated the stance of Imran Khan.<\/p>\n

In a press conference on Thurs\u00adday, PTI leaders said the testimony before the US Congress\u2019 Foreign Affairs Committee established the \u201cveracity and reality\u201d of the diplomatic cable.<\/p>\n

PTI Central Informa\u00adtion Secretary Raoof Hasan said that Mr Lu \u201caccepted the existence\u201d of the cipher and only disagreed with its contents. He claimed that the US official \u201clied\u201d before the Congressional committee about the then Pakistan envoy to the US, Asad Majeed, testimony that there was no conspiracy.<\/p>\n

The former ambassador\u2019s admission before two National Security Committee (NSC) meetings \u2014 one chaired by Imran Khan and another by Shehbaz Sharif as prime minister \u2014 led to a demarche to the US for its grave interference in Pakistan\u2019s internal affairs, claimed Mr Hasan.<\/p>\n

Even the second NSC meeting endorsed the minutes of the first meeting and termed the diplomatic cable \u201ca grave interference in Pakistan\u2019s affairs\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n

Party leaders want Gen Bajwa, ex-envoy Asad Majeed summoned to \u2018open trial\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The cipher was \u201cno more a secret or a classified document\u201d since its contents have been published by a US news organisation \u2018The Intercept<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n

The scoop, published in August 2023, claimed that the US administration was upset over Mr Khan\u2019s visit to Russia in 2022 and warned Pakistan of severe consequences, signalling that things would be better if he was removed, said Mr Hasan.<\/p>\n

The PTI founder didn\u2019t lie about anything and was \u201cunjustly being prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act\u201d for making the cipher public, added Mr Hasan.<\/p>\n

Imran Khan \u201ceven demanded formation of an independent judicial commission\u201d to probe the matter, said Mr Hasan.<\/p>\n

\u2018Summon ex-COAS and envoy\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking on the occasion, former Gilgit-Baltistan CM Khalid Khurshid claimed Mr Khan \u201ctook a firm stand\u201d against the US\u2019s interference and did not surrender like former president Pervez Musharraf.<\/p>\n

He demanded open trial of the cipher case<\/a> and that former COAS Qamar Javed Bajwa and the ex-ambassador should be summoned and asked how a man could threaten a country of 250 million people of severe consequences if they did not remove their elected prime minister.<\/p>\n

The US Congress was holding an open hearing on the cipher, but ironically, it was a crime to talk about the diplomatic cable in Pakistan, said Mr Khan.<\/p>\n

PTI leader and Mr Khan\u2019s lawyer, Naeem Haider Panjutha, said his client was \u201cfalsely\u201d implicated in the cipher case instead of taking actions against the real culprits.<\/p>\n

ECP\u2019s credibility \u2018wiped out\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

About Mr Lu\u2019s comments<\/a> on the Feb 8 general elections, Mr Hasan said the US office faced harsh questions about the \u201cmega elections robbery\u201d and \u201cmidnight assault on public mandate\u201d where clear winners were converted into losers through manipulation and tampering of results.<\/p>\n

Separately, PTI Senator Ejaz Cha\u00adu\u00addhry said the Election Commission of Pakistan\u2019s credibility has been \u201cwiped out\u201d after Mr Lu\u2019s observations on general elections.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the media after his checkup at a private hospital in Lahore on Thursday, Mr Chaudhry said incumbent rulers were \u201cbankrupting the country\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another PTI leader, Moonis Elahi, said the US official\u2019s \u201cconfession\u201d regarding the \u201crigging\u201d proved that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif \u201cwere illegitimately occupying their offices\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mansoor Malik in Lahore also contributed to this report<\/em><\/p>\n

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD: The PTI has clai\u00adm\u00ad\u00aded that US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu has admitted the cipher\u2019s existence, and his testimony has vindicated the stance of Imran Khan. In a press conference on Thurs\u00adday, PTI leaders said the testimony before the US Congress\u2019 Foreign Affairs Committee established the \u201cveracity and reality\u201d of the diplomatic cable. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/03\/220758117216bf4.jpg?r=075818","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-islamabad-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}