FO refuses to confirm or reject veracity of alleged ‘leaked cipher’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Office has refused to comment on the veracity of the alleged leaked cipher sent to Pakistan by the then Ambassador in Washington and now Foreign Secretary Dr Asad Majeed Khan last year, which former Prime Minister Imran Khan had claimed as a proof of a US conspiracy to oust him through the no-trust move in April 2022.

Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch when asked by journalists to comment on the transcript of the alleged leaked cipher published by an online American media organisation, she declined to comment, saying “Foreign Office does not comment on alleged leaks.”

On many occasions in the past, the spokesperson had stated that the issue had been debated and settled. “We believe that that controversy is in the past, it has been discussed and debated and settled and we do not wish to address it any further,” she had stated in response to queries during her weekly media briefings on many occasions.

In its report on Wednesday, the US-based online news organization maintained the March 7, 2022 document, labelled “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 US.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023