US Congressional committee to hold hearing on Pakistan election
A United States Congressional committee has disclosed its intention to convene a hearing on March 20 to scrutinize the recently conducted elections in Pakistan, following concerns raised by more than two dozen lawmakers regarding the fairness of the polls.
Titled 'Pakistan and the US-Pakistan Relationship,' the hearing announcement comes on the heels of widespread apprehensions regarding the impartiality of the February 8 elections, which were overshadowed by allegations of vote tampering. Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led by the incarcerated former prime minister, contends that the formation of the new government resulted from the theft of its electoral mandate.
The Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia of the House Foreign Affairs Committee has summoned Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu, to offer testimony. Of particular note is Lu's alleged involvement in a cipher controversy, which lends added significance to his impending testimony. The cipher in question purportedly contained a confidential diplomatic cable detailing a meeting between US State Department officials, including Lu, and Pakistani envoy Asad Majeed Khan last year.
During the March 2022 meeting, Khan accused Lu of threatening to destabilize his government, a claim consistently refuted by US authorities as lacking merit.
In addition to the hearing, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is slated to deliberate on a resolution on March 20 affirming support for democracy and human rights in Pakistan, underscoring the broader implications of the electoral integrity concerns in the US-Pakistan relationship.
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