Former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou recently revealed during an interview that former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan's party, the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf, had threatened him and asked him to apologise over his “India would beat Pakistan” remark during the conflict between New Delhi and Islamabad.
In an interview on the Julian Dorey Podcast, Kiriakou spoke about receiving “death threats” and a letter from Imran Khan’s party, which he boldly said that he would use to “wipe my a**”.
“Pakistanis will lose” remark
While speaking to ANI in October, the former CIA officer discussed the conflict between India and Pakistan, where he said that “Pakistanis will lose” and added that nothing good would ever come out of an actual war between the two countries.
“Nothing, literally nothing good will come of an actual war between India and Pakistan because the Pakistanis will lose. And I'm not talking about nuclear weapons. I'm talking just about a conventional war,” he had said.
Backlash over remark and a letter from Imran Khan’s party
{{/usCountry}}“Nothing, literally nothing good will come of an actual war between India and Pakistan because the Pakistanis will lose. And I'm not talking about nuclear weapons. I'm talking just about a conventional war,” he had said.
Backlash over remark and a letter from Imran Khan’s party
{{/usCountry}}His remarks were met with massive backlash and online abuse from Pakistanis. However, what really struck him the most was a letter from the president of the Imran Khan-led party, PTI. Former Punjab (Pakistan) chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has been leading the party since March 2023.
According to Kiriakou, the letter “in the strongest possible terms” condemned his remarks and demanded “an immediate apology to his excellency, the former prime minister (Imran Khan), to the members of the party (PTI), and to the people of Pakistan”.
Although his lawyer had advised him to “throw it away”, Kiriakou did the exact opposite. He revealed during the interview he replied to the “threatening” email and he did it in a harsh manner.
“I sent him an email and I said, 'In regards to your demand for an apology, I wipe my a** with your demands for an apology.' And I hit send, and that's how I left it, and I haven't heard back from them,” he said.
Who is John Kiriakou?
Kiriakou worked with the CIA for fifteen years and was an important part of anti terror operations after 9/11.
He also led the 2002 raid that resulted in the capture of Abu Zubaydah, who was a senior al Qaeda official at the time.