US Assistant Secretary Donald Lu to testify before Congress on March 20
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The US Congress has summoned Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu to testify during the hearing on the future of democracy in Pakistan, scheduled to be held on March 20, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Friday.
The US House Foreign Affairs Committee had tasked its subcommittee on the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia with conducting the hearing.
The hearing will also delve into the dynamics of US-Pakistan relations following the Feb 8 general elections.
The issue is frequently brought up during the US State Department news briefings by journalists from both Pakistan and the US.
The decision to have Mr Lu attend the hearing underscores the department’s desire to resolve the controversy by providing clarification on its stance.
In his comments, Matthew Miller, a representative of the US State Department, has said that the appearance of government officials before Congress to give testimonies is a routine matter. “This is one of our major responsibilities. And this helps Congress make policies,” he added.
Rejecting the allegations against Lu, Miller has said such allegations have always been untrue. “Allegations have been made against the same official in the past as well. But they were always rejected.”
We take threat to any US official seriously,” he said categorically.
It is worth-mentioning here that ever since the ouster of its government in April 2022, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has been accusing Lu of writing a cipher in which he threatened Pakistan with dire consequences in case the party’s government was not ousted.
A lot of importance is being attached to the assistant secretary’s testimony before Congress in view of the cipher episode.
It is expected that a large number of Congressmen, both Democrats and Republicans, will show up to listen to Lu’s side of the story.
In a statement from Houston, Texas, the PTI’s US chapter said that the congressional hearing on this was the result of “persistent efforts” made by Pakistani Americans.