Islamabad, Pakistan: On September 7, the US-based media outlet “The Intercept” published a narrative that Pakistan had received a bailout from the IMF on the condition that Pakistan supply arms to Ukraine.
When asked to comment over the latest Intercept story alleging the sale of Pakistani weapons to Ukraine to get an IMF bailout package for Pakistan, the Spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, rejected the story as baseless and fabricated.
She said:
“The IMF Standby Arrangement for Pakistan was successfully negotiated between Pakistan and the IMF to implement difficult but essential economic reforms. Giving any other color to these negotiations is disingenuous”.
Pakistan maintains a policy of strict neutrality in the dispute between Ukraine and Russia and in that context, does not provide any arms and ammunition to them. Pakistan’s defense exports are always accompanied by strict end-user requirements.”
Media circles in the capital city of Islamabad expressed similar viewpoints. Senior journalists like Ghazala Nureen, Ijaz Ahmed Hassan Iftikhar, Dr Farooq Adil, and Jawwad Faizi were of the view that Intercept had earlier published a report on the cipher based on lies due to which Chairman PTI is in jail today. Innumerable evidence and statements submitted by Imran Khan in the High Court of Imran Khan have been proved baseless and false but the Intercept has resorted to false allegations to save its reputation.
Meanwhile, it is reported in national media that several government officials and leading journals in the US already believe that the Intercept mostly publishes baseless and fairytale-like reports which clearly show that the news published in the Intercept is always fabricated as clickbait to gain global attention.
It is pertinent to mention that the US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary denied the Intercept’s reports saying:
“I reject misinformation about America’s role in Pakistani politics. We do not allow propaganda and misinformation to stand in the way of our valuable bilateral relationship with Pakistan.
“Not in the opposition, any claims, including reports about alleged ciphers, are false.”
Some time ago, Pakistan was going through a tough economic situation, but with the efforts of the state institutions that took several tough measures to get Pakistan out of the difficult times, Pakistan is sailing smoothly but joining any war in the world will never help the development of Pakistan.
It has not been part of the policy and the neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine conflict is also an example of this pacifist policy, but some American journals consider it their duty to spread sedition and corruption around the world.
As far as the question of serving the sentence of Chairman PTI in jail is concerned, it is a personal matter of Pakistan and no foreign organization has the right to speak in it.
There is proof of this because Pakistan has the authority to give a strong response to anyone who tries to harm the country, as well as to give severe punishment. And will not allow statements to harm our country’s stability It is obvious that The Intercept has a history of publishing anti-Pakistan narratives. The Cipher story is an indirect conspiracy to create political agitation in Pakistan and the present report is an indirect conspiracy to hinder the economic stability of Pakistan.
