ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office spokesperson Tuesday termed PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s Chief of Staff Shahbaz Gill’s claims that the cypher — containing the alleged threat to Pakistan — was hidden from the then foreign minister and prime minister, as “baseless”.
“Such a question simply does not arise. The Foreign Office operates on professional basis and it would be detrimental to cast aspersions on its working,” said the spokesperson.
The spokesperson was responding to media questions that were asked after a presser was held by Gill earlier today.
Gill, while speaking to the media outside the Supreme Court, had alleged that the cypher was hidden from the then prime minister Imran Khan and his foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
“Cypher was hidden from the then prime minister and foreign minister. Shah Mahmood Qureshi told me,” Gill told the press. He added that the cypher was given to Qureshi when he asked the foreign secretary about it, after which the former foreign minister took it to the prime minister.
On March 27, at a Jalsa, then PM Khan accused the US of interfering in Pakistan’s politics and plotting to oust his regime through a no-trust motion in the National Assembly.
As proof, the PM also carried a “threat letter” at the public gathering, saying that a “foreign country”, referring to the United States, “has warned of dire consequences if he remains in power,”
The threat letter he flashed before the masses was the diplomatic cable sent by Pakistan’s then-ambassador to the US Asad Majeed Khan.
