The Intercept has printed the “Cypher” communicated to Islamabad by the former Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States, Asad Majeed Khan. In this article for history, I am recording the U.S. responses to the possible existence of the cipher and the aftermath of the U.S.-backed coup.
I bring the matter of cipher involving Assistant Secretary Bureau Of South And Central Asian Affairs, Mr. Donald Lu, around March 08, 2022. The cipher outed by The Intercept alleges, “I think if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister [Imran Khan] succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington.” A vote of no confidence deposed Khan on April 09, 2023.
After reading the copy of the purported cipher, the former PM Imran Khan’s statement stands out in contrast. Khan mentioned in his speeches that the language used by Mr. Lu in the cipher was unprofessional and unheard of. I presumed from the American hubris Mr. Lu could have used expletives of an an-heard of degree. Don’t be surprised when The Intercept, at a later date, outs a complete version of the cipher.
Regarding the U.S. owning the cipher, U.S. State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter denied the allegation on April 08, 2022. Ms. Porter said, “Let me just say very bluntly there is absolutely no truth to these allegations.” After the leaked cipher, the State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated he “can’t speak to whether it is actual Pakistani document or not […] Even if those comments [in cipher] were accurate as reported, they in no way show [the] United States taking a position which the leader of Pakistan ought to be.” Mr. Miller did not deny the existence of cipher, as did Ms. Jalina Porter.
I believe the journalist Matt Lee; followed up on the question and said, I guess you are saying that the “substance of the purported Pakistani cable back to Islamabad is accurate? But it is not the U.S. saying that [the] then Prime Minister Mr. Khan should leave the office. Is that correct?” Mr. Miller replies, “Close-ish.”
At this point, Mr. Lee has pinned Mr. Miller to owing the cable in some form, though with Mr. Miller’s additional qualifications of the term “Close-ish,” a new diplomatic term, added Mr. Lee.
The consequences to the Pakistani people have been profound by the authoritarian regime. The “imported government,” backed by the corrupt army, are a party to extrajudicial killings, murders, and torture and has violated the rule of law. These are not American values, and what is carried out in Pakistan is not in the U.S. interest either.
Why do the same American values place the Biden Administration in a rigid dichotomy between Niger and Pakistan? The State Department spokesperson (or the Biden administration) views human rights violations in Pakistan as Pakistan’s internal matter. In the case of Niger, Mr. Miller delves into the regime’s “human rights violations and abuses.” –August 09, 2023.
I urge that we do not only look at the regime change in Pakistan as a “U.S. sparked coup.” –The Intercept. The U.S. welcomed the authoritarian regime as a forced dictatorship that has committed truly heinous human rights violations against its citizens.
The U.S.-backed regime is bold, fearless, and furious. The messages of the establishment to the people are deadly and decisive. Imran Khan’s lawyer Sher Afzal Khan Marwat, tweeted, “My brother-in Law Habib Khan has been killed by his abductor…” brother-in-law was abducted and killed. The perpetrators are unknown.
In the Pakistani Kangaroo courts and the country run by the law of the jungle, Khan’s legal outcomes in the trumped-up cases would be the same if he had refrained from presenting his legal defense. Khan may have to adopt silence in all his sham prosecutions—200 and counting. Let the world’s civil societies come into play as judges or juries in the defense of Khan.
The silence of the lambs, without a call to unity with courage and lacking an appeal to our shared values, may not make it possible to transfer the Pakistan army generals’ atrocities into the equal of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and be tried in The Hague.
I thank all of you sincerely for reading my letter. Best Regards, Mian.
Regards,