ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Wednesday slammed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan for “orchestrating” a cipher drama for vested interests, saying the party hired a lobbying firm for a Congress hearing. The minister’s remarks came after Donald Lu, the State Department’s top official for South and Central Asia, told a congressional panel that allegations of plotting against him were false.
“This allegation, this conspiracy theory, is a lie. It’s an absolute lie,” Lu said, testifying before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee examining Pakistan’s democracy and its relationship with the US. He also called on Pakistani authorities to investigate reported irregularities in last month’s general election and re-vote in affected constituencies if they find credible evidence of interference.
Responding to the US diplomat’s comments, Tarar said that the PTI Chairman’s deception and hypocrisy were exposed to the world today when Donald Lu testified before Congress and called the cipher a total lie. The federal information minister condemned the PTI conspiracy in the strongest possible terms and slammed the party for their anti-state actions, including the May 9 riots and protests outside the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for derailing Pakistan’s talks with the final lender. revision of the standby contract.
“PTI hired lobbyists in the United States for congressional hearings on the so-called regime change plot, but their leader could not escape divine justice,” he said, referring to the proverb “man designs and God disposes”. He said the hiring of lobbyists in the US for the Congressional hearing was only to malign the country, but it was the PTI founder who was eventually declared a “certified liar”. The minister said the US diplomat not only exposed the “cypher drama” but also expressed satisfaction over the credibility of the general elections as well as the empowerment of women in Pakistan during the proceedings.
On the other hand, he said that PTI has gone to extremes just to double down on its false narrative about the cipher which has seriously damaged Pakistan’s diplomatic relations with other countries. He said that the history of Pakistan rarely indicates such cases where a person endangers national interests just to gratify his ego.
The PTI founder waved a white paper at a public rally and claimed that his government was being overthrown due to a foreign conspiracy, the minister said accusing him of deceiving the entire nation and causing serious damage to the country. Today he was humiliated in front of the whole world which was broadcast by every international media channel, he added. The minister called out PTI leaders for intoxicating the minds of the youth.
He gained nothing from lobbying, running smear campaigns against the country and organizing conspiracies against the people, Tarar added. He reiterated the government’s commitment to national interests and promised all-out measures to protect the country’s interests. When asked, he said that the law will be followed in the cipher case, which was heard in the high court and at the appeal stage. He said the cipher case is open and shut, showing how the country’s enemies were included in the conspiracy and actually punished for it as well.
