British newspaper backtracks on Khan, ISI, Munter meeting report

The Sunday Times clarifies that Khan met Munter alone.

The Sunday times issued a clarification on Sunday its news from November 20 about a combined meeting between Imran Khan, US ambassador Cameron Munter and ISI chief Shuja Pasha.

The paper clarified that Khan had met Munter alone, as reiterated by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman since the report first came out.

The report had alleged that the PTI chief was introduced to Munter in Pasha’s presence, adding that Khan was supported by the Pakistani intelligence agency and military.

Khan has maintained that if he comes to power, he will be General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani’s boss and that his agenda was to bring the Army under him and make the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) report to him directly.

Khan had also tweeted from this official Twitter account that the last time he had met the intelligence chief was 18 months ago.

He added that he had met the American diplomat during a reception hosted by the Turkish embassy in Islamabad on October 28. A meeting, Khan claimed was not in the presence of Pasha.

PTI had termed the report to be “totally fabricated and false.”

In a statement issued by the party, PTI Secretary General Dr Arif Alvi had said the report was an attempt to provide support to the “false propaganda” by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)

Dr Alvi had said the party would be sending a letter to The Sunday Times to retract “falsehood”, or the party reserves the right to claim damages in a court of law.

Earlier in November the ISI too had strongly denied the reports and issued a statement terming the story “totally baseless and concocted”.

Munter too, refuting the report, had admitted that he met the chiefs of the ISI and the PTI, but on separate occasions.

However, he had refrained from divulging any more details.