Imran Khan based his entire political campaign on an anti-US stand and has repeatedly accused the US of wanting to remove him and topple his government. It has now emerged that the PTI had actually signed on several different lobbying groups from the US.
One of these groups is headed by Robert Laurent Grenier (Grenier) who had previously been the station chief of the US CIA in Pakistan. The contract between Grenier and the PTI had been signed by Asad Majeed Khan, the former Pakistani Ambassador to the US. This is the same Asad Majeed Khan who had written the now infamous letter which Imran Khan had claimed as proof of a conspiracy.
This particular agreement was made on behalf of Imran Khan by Iftikhar Durrani. The agreement which is a public document clearly states Iftikhar Durrani’s Islamabad residential address as well as the company’s office address in the US.
The PTI had signed four of these agreements. While the PTI enjoyed a good relationship with the US under Trump, with the Biden administration relations weakened. This is when the PTI began to amend its relationship by signing on American lobbyists. As per the agreement with Grenier, a monthly payment of US $25,000 per month as well as other expenses.
The other three agreements are with an organisation called Fenton . The first agreement was signed in June 2021 by the Council on Pakistan relations on behalf of the country. Interestingly the agreement with Fenton was made by a Houston based company founded by Muhammad Ashraf Qazi, Adil Jamal and Iqbal Abdullah who acted as representatives of the Pakistani government. Similarly, Fenton was to be paid US $25,000 per month for the duration of the contract which was six months.
In March 2022, when a no-confidence motion was being conducted against the PTI government, on one hand Imran Khan held the US government responsible for it, and on the other hand on March 21st 2022 another deal was being signed on with the same company. This time the signatory was Pakistan’s former Ambassador Asad Majeed. He had been the one who briefed Imran Khan of the conversation with Donald Lu via the infamous letter. The contract states the Pakistani Embassy as Asad Majeed’s address.
What is of note is before the expiry date of this specific contract, the PTI was quick to enter into another contract with the same company Fenton. Exactly how the company was being paid has raised the question of whether funding was coming from the Pakistan government treasury.
