ISLAMABAD: The military authorities and the main opposition party, the PTI, came face-to-face on Wednes­day on the ‘Lettergate’ issue, with the military spokesman insisting that his previous day’s remarks about the lack of a foreign conspiracy against the previous government were not political in nature.

ISPR Director General Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar was responding to criticism from PTI leaders, who said he had given a “political statement” a day earlier and reiterated their demand for a Supreme Court commission to ascertain whether the PTI government was toppled under a conspiracy.

In an interview with a TV channel on Tuesday, the DG ISPR once again rejected the conspiracy claim made by Imran Khan, who insists he was ousted from the top office through a US-backed manoeuvre with the help of local players.

Regarding the first National Security Commit­tee (NSC) meeting on the diplomatic cable at the centre of the conspiracy allegation that was held during Mr Khan’s tenure, the DG ISPR said it was attended by the top military leadership and the participants were “clearly and in detail briefed by agencies that there is no kind of conspiracy or any evidence of it”.

ISPR chief says nothing political about remarks; party reiterates call for judicial inquiry into cable

His comments provoked a response from PTI leaders Asad Umar and Shireen Mazari on Wednesday, who told a press conference that the military spokesman’s remarks were akin to wading into political matters and were more an “opinion” than a fact.

A few hours after the presser, the DG ISPR appeared on a TV channel to respond: “Yesterday, I talked on the issue (of conspiracy) in detail and in response to Asad Umar’s statement; I want to clarify that I did not give any political statement on the matter.”

He said he had given the statement on behalf of all services chiefs that “no evidence of any conspiracy was found in the removal of the last government”.

The DG ISPR said former interior minister Sheikh Rashid had claimed in a show last week that no services chief, in the NSC meeting on March 31, had said that a conspiracy did not happen.

“He (Rashid) was in a way [trying] to convey that he was talking as their representative,” the military spokesperson said. “That is why I felt it necessary to go in the same programme and clarify this on behalf of the services chiefs since I’m their spokesman. There is nothing political to this.”

He reiterated that his explanation about the NSC meeting was a “clarification” and not at all political.

The NSC met on April 22 with former prime minister Imran Khan in the chair and concluded that “no foreign conspiracy was found to oust Imran Khan’s regime”.

Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar agreed that the Lettergate was a serious national issue, which was why the NSC meeting was attended by all services chiefs and DG Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

“They all came in the meeting after seeking intelligence-based information and apprised the meeting that no conspiracy was found to remove the PTI government. That was not a mere opinion, but a stance based on intelligence information,” he added.

The DG ISPR said he had no reservation about the formation of a judicial commission on the conspiracy claim, and the military and intelligence institutions would provide complete assistance to the government in whatever forum it decided to take the matter to its logical conclusion.

PTI takes issue with DG ISPR

Earlier on Wednesday, PTI Secretary General Asad Umar held a press conference in Islamabad and said it was “beyond his understanding” why there was a need to address the issue again from the platform of the DG ISPR.

“The DG ISPR rightly says that the army should be kept away from politics and he appeals to political parties to not involve the army in politics, which is right,” he said.

“Now, whether this imported government has or hasn’t come through interference or conspiracy, let political parties talk to each other about this. But now that he has spoken, so it is necessary to give a response.”

The PTI leader said he was a part of that first NSC meeting and while the diplomatic letter was being read out, a military representative had called for facts and opinions to be viewed separately.

Elaborating on those “facts”, Mr Umar said it was written that a “clear threat” was given to Pakistan that if the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan failed then the country would face “isolation and difficulties”.

“What I am saying was not once, but twice mentioned in the press release after the NSC meetings [and] words of a ‘clear foreign interference’ are used and it was said that ‘this isn’t at all acceptable’.”

“This is a fact on which there are no two opinions,” he said, adding that the NSC meeting did not have the answer to whether the “foreign interference” was part of a conspiracy or not.

He said the DG ISPR was right that some military officials did not see the evidence of a conspiracy. However, he said, many of the civilian leaders in the NSC meeting had the opinion that a conspiracy was present.

Mentioning the efforts made by the PTI in pursuing the formation of a judicial commission for the ‘cablegate’ affair, Mr Umar requested the Supreme Court to oblige and added that Imran had decided to again write to Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial to urge him to oversee the matters.

“I repeat that let politicians deal with political matters. If the DG ISPR does not think it necessary to repeatedly explain political matters, then I think it will be better for the army and the country.”

Meanwhile, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a press conference that “PTI leaders are attacking the state institution at the whims of Imran Khan, who wanted to divert the attention of media and public from his corruption scandals.”

She questioned why Imran had not formed the judicial commission and if he had any evidence which proved that his government was removed under a foreign conspiracy.

“So far failed to give any evidence to prove his claim of a foreign plot against his government,” she added.

“Political and military leadership present in both the NSC meetings had only one stance, i.e. no conspiracy was hatched against the Imran’s regime,” she observed.

The minister said Imran Khan had evolved the theory of foreign conspiracy as he knew that all files and records were littered with the tales of inefficiency and corruption of his regime. It was part of his plan to use this fake narrative of the so-called foreign conspiracy to divert attention.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2022