President Alvi calls for judicial commission to probe 'regime change conspiracy'

President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday called for a thorough investigation by an “empowered judicial commission” into the alleged regime change conspiracy that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan claims was behind the ouster of his government.

Responding to the April 30 letter of the former premier, in which he urged the president and Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial to hold a public inquiry as well as the formation of a judicial commission to probe a “threat letter,” President Alvi said that the circumstantial evidence in the matter should be recorded and investigated to “reach a logical conclusion and provide clarity to the people of Pakistan”.

The president said he will send his (Khan’s) letter to PM Sharif and CJP Bandial “with the request that the latter may constitute an empowered judicial commission to conduct open hearings 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, containing an official summary of a meeting held at the Pakistan embassy with Donald Lu, US Assistant Secretary of State along with another US official, and other diplomats of the Pakistan mission.

He added that the report in the cypher included some statements made by Mr 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.

‘Threat letter’: Seeking investigation, Imran writes letters to President, CJP

President Alvi also referred to the two meetings of the National Security Committee that had endorsed that the statements of Mr Lu amounted to unacceptable and blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan and 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 through undiplomatic language.

He noted that the former prime minister had raised serious issues of possible covert reactions and ramifications of the threat.

In his letter, the president continued that he was of the view that for a sovereign nation like Pakistan and its people whose dignity had been deeply hurt, there was a need to carry out an in-depth analysis and investigation in order to inquire about the possible conspiracy.

The president also highlighted that in the history of Pakistan, people had alleged and strongly believed in “many obvious, but unfortunately the 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, PM Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s public waving of a letter, and allegation of a conspiracy against him, President Ziaul Haq’s plane crash, Ojheri disaster, Abbottabad Conspiracy case, and several others that remained inconclusive.

The president said that sometimes top-secret archives that were declassified after decades, or revelations by informed people, or documents that had emerged via various 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 emphasized that it would be a vigorous exercise to prove that a "smoking gun" had been identified in the "hand of a conspirator" or to find a possible money trail or to identify "meetings where people had been motivated towards covert action or where people had been bought and sold".

He stated that even recorded circumstantial evidence could lead the way towards some conclusions and provide closure to the people of Pakistan who deserved clarity.