Global Watch | What The Leaked Cipher Reveals About Power In Pakistan |
Global Watch | What The Leaked Cipher Reveals About Power In Pakistan
The episode highlights how vulnerable Pakistan’s political order remains to unelected actors capable of translating external preferences into domestic political outcomes.
Pakistan’s political crises have often unfolded behind closed doors in army headquarters in Rawalpindi, judges’ chambers in Islamabad and even diplomatic drawing rooms rather than on the floor of its National Assembly.
A newly revealed diplomatic cable, which was initially leaked in 2023, has revived one of the country’s most contentious political accusations in recent past: that former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ousting in 2022 was not simply the result of parliamentary arithmetic, but rather the outcome of well-rehearsed conspiracies involving Pakistan’s military establishment and pro-army political elite, with tacit encouragement from Washington.
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The latest disclosure, published by DropSite, centres on a classified Pakistani diplomatic cipher dated March 7, 2022. The cable records a meeting between Pakistan’s then ambassador in Washington, Asad Majeed Khan, and senior American diplomat Donald Lu.
According to the document, Lu suggested that relations with Washington would improve if Khan were removed through a no-confidence motion, remarking that “all will be forgiven in Washington" should the parliamentary effort succeed. It may be recalled that Khan had been defiant towards the Americans by taking a neutral position on Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, including finding himself in Moscow on a bilateral visit on the very morning Russian forces crossed into Ukrainian territory.
For years, Khan claimed that his ouster in April 2022 was orchestrated through a nexus involving Pakistan’s military leadership, then led by Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, with express backing from foreign actors, particularly the United States. At the time, those assertions were dismissed by his opponents as conspiracy theories and political theatrics, even as he repeatedly referred to the existence of “this" diplomatic cable during his public rallies.
He even flaunted a paper during one of his rallies days before the ouster, reading parts of its contents, and was subsequently booked for revealing state secrets. While Pakistan’s military establishment denied involvement, with Gen. Bajwa insisting that the military was no longer........