Two leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the United States have allegedly misused party donations worth $2 million to enhance their riches and carry out propaganda against Pakistan and its institutions. A media report published in America Daily Post quoted an Islamabad-based news website saying that PTI USA head and Imran Khan’s advisor Sajjad Burki received $1.8 million in donations but only sent $30,000 back home to Pakistan.
As per the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) Exhibit, Pakistani-American supporters of PTI hired lobbying firms for a duration of 45 days from January 16 to March 1, 2024 particularly to influence general elections 2024 in Pakistan and to run a campaign against Pakistan’s armed forces. The media report claimed that Burki founded the PTI company on 7-11-2018, shortly after Imran Khan became prime minister.
The document also mentions a manager, Umer Khan with address 7207 Regency Square Boulevard, Ste 247, Houston, TX 77036. The file number of the Secretary of State is 803064729. Attributing to two PTI insiders in USA and Pakistan, the report claimed that over the last two years, Sajjad Burki and Atif Khan received donations from three leading US businessmen but none of those donations have been declared or sent to Pakistan.
It also quoted “several sources” inside PTI saying that both the leaders received money from three rich Pakistani Americans in the name of Imran Khan but they have not undertaken any audit with no one knowing as what happened to over $1.8 million received from the three businessmen as well as from over a dozen professional doctors, engineers
and IT experts who support PTI.
Burki formed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf USA LIC and used the limited liability company to obtain donations for his party, according to multiple pieces of evidence and statements of PTI insiders. The donations were taken on several websites made by PTI on which no audit has yet taken place. Most of the donations collected in the USA have reached their personal coffers, a PTI central leader said who is now also a Member of the National Assembly.
The report said that only a tiny portion was sent to Pakistan to PTI’s account with no knowledge of the rest of the money. The party workers remain wary of questioning Sajjad Burki because he is close to Aleema Khan and Imran Khan, said the PTI insider. A casual perusal of the Twitter profiles of Sajjad Burki and Atif Khan reveals that the duo have been running a campaign against the Pakistan Army openly and secretly using multidimensional information warfare techniques to attack the credibility of Pakistan’s institutions.
Since the fall of Imran Khan’s govt, both the leaders were allegedly indulged in anti-Pakistan activities. They post videos on social media with US senators, making false allegations against Pakistani institutions. Both are helped by the likes of disgraced Shehbaz Gill, former Imran Khan advisor, and guitarist Salman Ahmed.
Atif Khan describes himself as “former Member of Prime Minister Task Force/ Focal Person Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis during PTI Government” and now a member of PTI Core Committee, appointed by Imran Khan from jail. Burki describes himself as “Focal person for USA to Chairman PTI Imran Khan, and Past President PTI USA”.
The report claimed that as per PTI insiders, several forces including Burki do not want Imran Khan to come out of prison since their businesses will suffer consequently. Burki, who is also a part of Namal University was considered to be Imran Khan’s close confidante but his associations with several US politicians with links to India draws suspicions over his role in leading PTI USA. On 2nd March, Burki shared a video on his Twitter in which he is seated with Congresswoman Marya Flores giving false information about Pakistan’s elections.
On 27th February, Burki tweeted a letter by Reps Greg Casar and Susan Wild calling on the Biden Administration to refrain from recognising the democratically elected government in Pakistan. On 21st February, Burki attended a video session with Haider Mehdi and Adil Raja in which all of them engaged in a disinformation campaign against Pakistan’s institutions, making false claims without presenting any evidence. On 14th February, Burki tweeted that he called for overseas Pakistanis to stop sending remittances to Pakistan which would in effect damage their families who would be left penniless. Lately, he and many other PTI affiliated Social Media handles have been exhorting Pakistani expats to channelize their remittance through informal and mostly illegal channels. Even Atif Khan’s tweets reveal how he is running a systematic campaign against Pakistan’s armed forces with no efforts to hide his inclinations. On 4th March, Atif tweeted a video purposely made to instigate the people of Pakistan to conduct violence against their own institutions. The report said that the PTI USA has been using lobbying firms for several years to pressure the Pakistani armed forces and to have the cases against Imran Khan closed. A senior PTI leader said that Sajjad Burki has been behind hiring every lobbying firm, mainly to target the Pakistan Army and to raise funds from the forces aligned against Pakistan, including Indian donors working in cahoots with RAW, the Indian spy agency. The report also mentioned that Pakistani-American PTI supporter Fayaz Qureshi recently hired a lobbying firm “LGS LLC” headed by Stephen Payne. The firm was paid $50,000 against its services related to the aimed targeting of Pakistani institutions. The announcement of the agreement was made on US government Dept of Justice’s official website. This marked the third consultant the PTI and its supporters hired in the US after April 2022 when Imran Khan lost the vote of no confidence and was ousted. In March 2023, PTI hired Praia Consultants, LLC of Washington to support the party’s goal.
The firm was hired for six-month period against $8,333.00 per month. In 2022, PTI USA portrayed as the New York-based party of US citizens of Pakistani origin hired another consultant, Fenton/Arlook. The firm was hired for a six-month period at $25,000 per month to manage PTI USA’s public and media relations. Such links of these dubious actors with the American intelligence community have raised eyebrows in Islamabad over the nature of PTI’s lobbying efforts, particularly those taking place overseas. More recently, PTI leaders are now disassociating with Adil Raja and Haider Mehdi after their links with foreign intelligence services came to light. PTI has significant penetration in the Pakistani expat community of North Americans. They also provide funding for lobbying efforts but the community without knowing their money was being used for personal projection. The PTI insiders said this approach is damaging for Pakistan and the PTI both. The effect of this external lobbying is evident into a stringent scrutiny of Pakistan’s electoral process through unusually harsh statements by many countries (as compared to Bangladesh and Egypt) along with one-sided debate in many media spaces, thus putting legitimacy of Pakistan’s political dispensation into question. It is now clear that those PTI affiliated scammers who worked internationally against the interests of Pakistan were primarily motivated by financial compensation in terms of stolen donations, rather than any ideological considerations.”—APP
