The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has once again called for the establishment of a high-powered judicial commission to thoroughly investigate the matter of cypher and subsequently make its findings public.
“We reiterate our demand that a high-powered judicial commission should be constituted to investigate the issue and make its findings public,” the party said in a statement issued on X – formerly known as Twitter.
Also read: Secret Pakistan Cable reveals US pressure to depose Imran Khan: Report
The statement further said that the cipher debate should now be put in its right perspective and acknowledge that intervention in Pakistan’s internal affairs had indeed taken place, which led to the moving of a vote of no-confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Statement issued by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf regarding the article published by the US news agency, ‘The Intercept’ @theintercept, revealing the details of the ‘Cypher’.#سائفر_ایک_حقیقت#ReleaseImranKhan pic.twitter.com/ewG50ff26U
— PTI (@PTIofficial) August 10, 2023
On Wednesday, The Intercept, a US-based news organization, published a report based on the ‘cypher’ document.
The US State Department has reportedly pressurized the Pakistani authorities in a March 7, 2022, meeting to remove Imran Khan as prime minister over his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, The Intercept reported citing a classified Pakistani government cable.
The text of the Pakistani cable, produced from the meeting by the ambassador and transmitted to Pakistan, has not previously been published. The cable, known internally as a “cypher,” reveals 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 was not, the paper reported.
The document, labeled “Secret,” includes an account of the meeting between State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, and Asad Majeed Khan, who at the time was Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S.
The paper claimed that it obtained the document from an anonymous source in the Pakistani military who said that they had no ties to Imran Khan or Khan’s party.