Luncheon set off Pak ‘lettergate’, says report

Islamabad, April 17

The conversation that rattled the then PM Imran Khan-led government in Pakistan took place on March 7 at a farewell lunch for the country's ambassador to the US Asad Majeed Khan at his residence in Washington, which is also known as Pakistan House, a media report said on Sunday.

Citing diplomatic and official sources, a newspaper reported that a note-taker also attended the lunch meeting and the cable that Ambassador Khan later sent to Islamabad was based on the notes taken by the note-taker, who was from the Pakistan Embassy. Since the lunch meeting – attended by Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu and Deputy Assistant Secretary Lesslie C Viguerie — was held less than two weeks after the Russian military operation against Ukraine, the invasion dominated the conversation, the paper said.

The sources said the US side expressed its ‘disappointment' with Pakistan's decision to send its Prime Minister Imran Khan to Moscow the day Russia invaded Ukraine, the paper said. “They pointed out how the invasion had angered the entire American nation and explained why they thought Khan should have postponed his visit,” one of the sources said. Another source said Lu hinted that “Washington believes the final decision to go ahead with the visit despite the invasion was that of Imran Khan” although some Pakistani officials had suggested postponing it, the paper reported. Ambassador Khan, according to these sources, argued that it was a collective decision and that Pakistan had been trying for a Moscow visit for years. And when the invitation came, they could not turn it down or postpone it. The Americans, however, argued that Islamabad should have also “considered Washington's sensitiveness” on this issue, the paper said. — PTI

‘Imported govt trying to push me out’

Karachi: Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has claimed that the current “imported government” led by Shehbaz Sharif was trying to push him “out of the game” and called his ouster a “fixed” match to make Pakistanis slaves to foreign powers.

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