A United States official has clarified that Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu’s testimony before Congress is something that happens ‘all the time’.

“So with respect to the hearing, any number of State Department officials testify all the time before Congress,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Thursday.

“We see it as an important part of our jobs to help Congress do its job, both from a policymaking perspective and from an oversight perspective,” he added.

When asked about former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s allegations against Lu, Miller reiterated his stance that the allegations were false.

“So first of all, with respect to the underlying allegations against Assistant Secretary Lu, they’re false,” he said. “They’ve always been false. You’ve heard me say that more than once, more than twice, more than ten times probably.”

Lu, the Assis­tant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, has been summoned to testify before a subcommittee of the Congress’ Foreign Affairs committee.

The hearing on the future of democracy in Pakistan is scheduled for March 20.

Lu had been named by Khan as the main character in the ‘cipher’ conspiracy. The former PM had alleged that Lu had conveyed to a Pakistan diplomat that the vote of no confidence must succeed for US-Pakistan ties to improve.