Documents shared in an extensive tweet thread indicate how a former CIA station chief in Islamabad and Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US were hired to lobby for PTI in Washington. The alleged conspiracy resulted in the ouster of Imran Khan as prime minister in April.
On 20th Dec, 2022, journalist Waqas Ahmed shared a series of tweets that have since become the top trend on social media, revealing new information, according to which Iftikhar Durrani of PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) hired Mr. Robert Grenier to lobby on their behalf in Washington, DC, on July 16, 2021. This was disclosed in Mr. Greiner’s jointly signed FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) declaration dated July 17, 2021. However, it was the government of Pakistan that was paying him.
Based on the information provided, there was no news about it at the time, but about a year later, in August 2022, Pakistani media outlet “The News” shared the FARA declaration and reported on it under the headline “PTI hired CIA veteran to advise on US ties: documents”, describing how Greiner was hired by PTI to lobby for and offer advice on Pakistan-Us relations.
This information, nevertheless, proved to be inaccurate because the relationship between Mr. Grenier and the Government of Pakistan ended on October 31, 2021, and a FARA Supplement covering the six-month period ending in Jan 2022 disclosed information about the payments made by the Government of Pakistan to Mr. Grenier. A total of $150,000 was granted for research—not lobbying.
Although Grenier abruptly filed an amendment to the Supplemental Statement in November 2022 (far after the PTI administration had dissolved). Question remained; Did Grenier pay anyone on behalf of the principal (Durrani/GoP)? Turns out, yes. None other than former Pakistani Ambassador to DC, Mr Husain Haqqani, who received two payments of $20,000 and $10,000. It also clarified that Durrani was a non-entity throughout the scheme.
Formerly a staunch supporter of the former military dictator of Pakistan, Zia ul Haq, Mr. Haqqani is presently regarded as a fierce critic of the military and a strong proponent of the US severing ties with Pakistan. However, a week after receiving his first payment on September 3, 2021, he wrote the following article, “US-Pakistan relations need more candor,” in which he made the case for a fresh round of US-Pakistan engagement.
Furthermore, between Sep-Oct of 2021, Bajwa and the then-DG ISI paid a visit to the UAE and according to a trustworthy source, Mr. Haqqani was also asked by the authorities of the UAE to meet privately with Bajwa, Gen. Faiz, and other Pak Army officials. During this meeting, both sides came to a mutual agreement to working around the discussed issues collectively.
The visit’s confidentiality makes more sense given that nothing was made public until April 10, 2022, when PTI was finally ousted from office by a vote of no confidence. As Haqqani then tweeted “COAS Gen Bajwa says the right things to save Pakistan’s relations with US & EU, which Imran Khan’s PTI has tried to jeopardize with inflammatory rhetoric after losing majority in parliament.” In April 2022, Mr Haqqani also started working on a report on reestablishing US-Pakistan relations — the “Bajwa-led reset”.
However, the former envoy to Washington told Dawn (on 20th Dec, 2022) that it was “unfortunate that my name is being unfairly invoked in matters with which I have nothing to do.”
“Given that I was vilified for being anti-Pakistan and anti-military for years, questions about whether the then army chief met me should be directed at the military,” he added.
In reference to his UAE visit, he stated, “I did not meet Gen. Bajwa as alleged though I see no reason why a former Pakistani ambassador and the army chief should not meet to exchange views.”
Responding to his statement, Shireen Mizari, PTI’s Senior Vice President, said that the Haqqani-Bajwa files, now in public, clearly indicated that the whole project of regime change conspiracy was done covertly, and that “[Mr] Haqqani was hired to undermine the PTI government.”
“One of the first indicators was how Mr Haqqani endorsed Mr Bajwa’s statement at Islamabad Security Dialogue, countering Imran Khan’s government foreign policy. “She also claimed that Donald Lu, the US diplomat who allegedly threatened the PTI government at a lunch at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, had a close relationship with Mr. Haqqani
Meanwhile PTI’s response to Iftikhar Durrani’s engagement is that Mr Durrani had already resigned from his post when he signed the document although one party official told Dawn News that Mr Durrani told him he did so “under coercion”.
As far as Bajwas central role in this controversy is concerned, Saeed Afridi (@safridis) a Pakistani researcher based in UK filled an important gap here with his tweets which basically implied that, the regime change operation in Pakistan was not initiated by USA but Bajwa trying to decieve all players at once. To Imran Khan he said ‘US is coming for you’, to US he was signalling ‘IK has it in for you’. By pitting these against each other, he was building space for himself.
The purpose was to build a pro Army pro Bajwa narrative in DC while VonC went down in Pakistan and to protect Bajwa from fallout in wake of VoNC. It was to seek extension for Bajwa so he can do a “Bajwa-led US-Pak reset“.Hence, it was not PTI that paid Grenier, or Haqqani, it was Bajwa.
Last but not least, is the question of whether the contract with Grenier that ended in Oct 2021, ever renewed? Did he ever get more money? Yes. In June 2022, the contract was renewed again in a new FARA declaration filed in Oct, 2022.
However, as per reports by journalist Waqas Ahmed, there was only one difference this time, Mr Durrani’s signature was missing. It was as if someone had used the old template from PTI Govt’s time and just used it as it was. Isn’t that amazing? When I asked Mr Durrani, he refused to comment. Ask the Govt he said. And then a minute later, deleted that message.
