Pakistan Print edition: 2025-10-27

‘Allegations’ against IK: PTI demands CIA officer tender apology

Published October 27, 2025 Updated October 27, 2025 06:10am

2 min

By Sardar Sikander Shaheen

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has demanded of former American intelligence officer John Kiriakou to publicly apologise for his “false statements” about PTI founder and former Prime Minister Imran Khan, warning legal action against him in the United States courts, otherwise.

“His recent interview contains absurd, false and fabricated allegations regarding Imran Khan, the cipher, and the US ambassador without presenting a single piece of evidence or document,” the PTI said in a statement here on Sunday, dismissing what it said were the baseless claims from the former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer.

John Kiriakou himself was convicted and served 23 months in prison for disclosing classified CIA information, the PTI statement said, adding Most of his recent interviews appear to be influenced by political lobbies and foreign interests.

Kiriakou’s anti-Pakistan remarks are often prominently featured in Indian media, which further exposes his clear bias, the statement said. “The truth is that Pakistan’s then-ambassador to the United States, Asad Majeed, formally communicated the details of his meeting with Donald Lu to the Foreign Office through an official cipher,” the PTI claimed.

In 2022, the then Prime Minister Imran Khan presented the facts of this cipher before the National Security Committee, Parliament, and the federal cabinet, it said. “The state institutions of Pakistan later formally acknowledged the matter, and a decision was taken to issue a demarche (official note of protest) to the US Embassy in Pakistan. Subsequently, a US embassy official was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to record Pakistan’s formal protest since there was no American ambassador posted in Islamabad at the time. This clearly proves that Imran Khan raised the issue as a matter of national sovereignty, not for any personal or political gain,” the statement says.

Jemima Khan, the PTI said, has not visited Pakistan for many years, nor has she ever contacted the Government of Pakistan regarding Imran Khan’s release. “This claim is also entirely false and based on misinformation,” the statement said.

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