A political storm has erupted after former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou accused Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf of trying to pressure him into issuing an apology. Kiriakou said PTI contacted him over comments he made about the India-Pakistan conflict during an interview with ANI in October. He warned that Pakistan would lose a conventional war against India and argued that conflict would benefit neither nation.
His comments triggered strong backlash in Pakistan. Social media users abused him and sent death threats. Kiriakou said he stopped counting the number of threats but stood by his analysis. He explained that India has a much larger population and would hold a major advantage in a conventional confrontation.
PTI issued a strongly worded letter demanding an apology to Imran Khan, the party leadership and the people of Pakistan. Kiriakou said the letter came from party president Chaudhry Parvez Elahi. He claimed that his lawyer advised him to lower his profile, but he sent a crude response to the party. He said he told PTI that he would use their apology demand as toilet paper.
Kiriakou worked with the CIA for 15 years and led major anti-terror operations after 9/11. He later exposed the CIA’s torture programme and spent almost two years in prison.
