ISLAMABAD - President Dr Arif Alvi has called for a thorough probe and investigations into the alleged regime change conspiracy by recording circumstantial evidence to reach a logical conclusion and provide clarity to the people of Pakistan.
In a letter to former prime minister Imran Khan, the president insisted that a thorough probe into the regime change conspiracy should be conducted.
The president informed Imran Khan that he was sending his letter to the prime minister of Pakistan as well as to the chief justice of Pakistan with the request that the latter may constitute an empowered Judicial Commission to conduct open hearing in this regard. He wrote that he had read the copy of the Cypher sent by the then ambassador of Pakistan to the United States of America, containing an official summary of a meeting held in the Pakistan Embassy between US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu, along with another US official, and our ambassador with a note-taker, together with other diplomats of the Pakistan Mission in US.
He added that the report in the Cypher included some statements made by Donald Lu in quotes, specifically mentioning a ‘No confidence motion’ against the prime minister, and also mentioned ‘forgiveness’ if it succeeded, and dire consequences if the said motion failed.
The president also referred to the two meetings of the National Security Committee (NSC) that had termed the statements of Donald Lu as unacceptable and ‘blatant interference’ in the internal affairs of Pakistan, and said that the government of Pakistan had rightly issued a demarche. He underscored that threats could both be covert and overt and in this particular case, it was clearly communicated in undiplomatic language. He noted that the former prime minister had raised serious issues of possible covert reactions and ramifications of the threat.
The president also highlighted that in the history of Pakistan, people had alleged and strongly believed in many obvious but, unfortunately, unproven conspiracies. In this regard, he cited the examples of the murder of the first prime minister of Pakistan Shaheed Liaquat Ali Khan in Rawalpindi, the Agartala conspiracy case, former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s waving of a letter in public gathering and allegation of a conspiracy against him, former president Ziaul Haq’s plane crash, Ojheri disaster, Abbottabad Conspiracy case, and many others that remained inconclusive.
The president said that sometimes, top-secret archives that were declassified after passage of decades or revelations by informed people, or documents that had emerged in ‘leaks’, did provide a ‘smoking gun’ kind of link to events and conspiracies on the world stage. He regretted that it happened much later, after the destinies of those countries had been significantly damaged by such illegal interventions.
The president emphasised that proving a ‘smoking gun’ had been identified ‘in the hand of a conspirator’, or finding a possible money trail or identifying meetings where people had been motivated towards covert action or where people had been bought and sold, would be a vigorous exercise. He stated that even recorded circumstantial evidence could lead the way towards some conclusions and provide clarity to the people of Pakistan.
President Arif Alvi has held the summary sent by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for the appointment of Nasreen Jalil as new Governor Sindh, it is learnt.
The sources told The Nation that a day earlier the President had received the summary from the PM Office regarding the appointment of MQM-P Senator Nasreen Jalil as new Governor Sindh.
The sources said President Alvi did not return the summary with rejection, however, expressed his strong reservation on her nomination as Sindh Governor and sought more time to consider the case.
The approval of the President is required for the appointment of the governor in any of the four provinces of Pakistan. The summary for the appointment of Baligur Rehman as Governor Punjab is also pending with the President for signing.
