ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office on Friday confirmed a telephonic contact between Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and the US Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman, but expressed the inability to share the content of the discussion.

Responding to a question during the weekly media briefing about the Chief of Army Staff’s telephonic conversation with the US Deputy Secretary of State and the reported discussion on the release of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) tranche and possible US support in this regard, Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said the conversation did take place.

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“Well I understand conversation has taken place, but at this stage, I am not in direct knowledge of the content of this discussion,” he stated, adding the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) would be able to comment on it.

Earlier, media reports claimed that the army chief, during his telephone conversation with the US Deputy Secretary of State, urged Washington to help in securing an early release of $1.2 billion IMF tranche that Pakistan is due to receive under a resumed loan programme.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022