Claim: PTI Chairman Imran Khan told the media that he apologises to the nation for the cypher conspiracy case. ARY News reported that he had been misled by other members of the party in this case.
Fact: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s media strategist Imran Ghazali rejected the claim; he confirmed that the statement is fake statement and that Khan had been clarifying his stance regarding the cypher conspiracy in a number of YouTube videos on his official channel.
On 20 July 2023, an ARY News screenshot went viral on social media claiming that Imran Khan had given a statement rejecting the cypher conspiracy and apologising to the public. The screenshot showed two bulletins paired together with the following text:
Bulletin 1:
عمران خان کا سائفر معاملے پر قوم سے معذرت کا فیصلہ ، ذرائع
[Translation: Imran Khan has decided to apologize for the cypher issue, sources.]
Bulletin 2:
ساکفر معاملے پر کچھ سابقہ پارٹی ممبران کی باتوں میں آگیا تھا، ذرائع
.[Translation: I got fooled by some former party members on the cypher issue, sources]
This screenshot makes it seem like Khan recently made this statement, rejecting the cypher conspiracy. In March 2022, the former prime minister first spoke about this allegation at a public rally in Islamabad. Khan claimed that he had received a secret document from Pakistan’s embassy in Washington, which revealed a plot by the US government to remove him from power and install a puppet regime in Islamabad.
He said that the cypher was written by the then Pakistani ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed, to the foreign office, following his meeting with a senior US official, Donald Lu. He accused Lu of threatening him with dire consequences if he did not comply with US demands on various issues, such as Kashmir, Afghanistan, and China. The US State Department has denied these allegations several times. Khan has stuck to this claim diligently and even maintained it in front of the court.
Fact or Fiction?
To confirm the veracity of this screenshot, Soch Fact Check thoroughly searched the ARY News Urdu website for the following keywords:
عمران خان
سائفر
معذرت
We found that ARY News had not shared this bulletin or published any article associated with it on their website. Additionally, we reviewed several YouTube videos recently posted on Imran Khan’s official channel to gauge whether his stance on the cypher controversy has changed recently, leading him to apologise. However, in his most recent vlog, published on 27 July 2023, he specifically clarifies the cypher conspiracy and stands by his claims. He has continued to call it a conspiracy against Pakistan.
Soch Fact Check also reached out to Imran Ghazali, the official social media strategist for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He confirmed that the statement is a fake and that Khan had been clarifying his stance regarding the cypher conspiracy in a number of YouTube videos on his official channel.
Virality
We found the same claim shared on Instagram here and here. We also found it on Facebook here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: Imran Khan did not apologise to the nation on the cypher issue.
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