Thread by @ayeshaijazkhan

So I’ve read The Intercept piece and here are my thoughts.

The writer, Maz Hussain, is an ABCD Youthia, whose main source of info is IK/PTI.

Once he was waxing eloquent on Twitter about how IK is crusading against corruption. I asked him why then he is using JKT’s plane/money?

At the time, JKT was in PTI and very much IK’s ATM. Maz clearly didn’t know who JKT was and soon after blocked me so he didn’t have to answer any further tough questions that he had no knowledge of.

His current piece is totally echoing IK and PTI’s position.

He is also inaccurate about the fact that “IK hasn’t backed off”. He has. Somewhere down the line, he stopped blaming US and started blaming Bajwa.

But this clearly slipped Maz’s radar, and didn’t jive with The Intercept’s penchant for a conspiracy theory.

The one interesting thing about the piece was however that it published the cypher. Obviously it’s been leaked to him by PTI, further bolstering the fact that the party has no regard for any bounds or norms and can’t be taken seriously internationally.

But now that it has been leaked, I will say it seems authentic.

But nothing in the cable suggests a regime change operation.

It is just a frank convo between 2 diplomats. Cables like this must be a dime a dozen between US-Pak and other diplomats in US too.

What it does convey is that the Biden Administration wasn’t keen on Imran Khan. Well who doesn’t already know that?

It also shows his Russia visit exacerbated that. Well duh.

I mean come on. Only PTI can be stupid enough to think it wouldn’t!