The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday termed a statement attributed to former prime minister Imran Khan’s then principal secretary Azam Khan, who went missing last month, on the US cipher conspiracy as “unverified”. Rose said it was a “set”. of contradictions”
According to reports circulating on mainstream and social media, the former bureaucrat has “recorded” a statement, in which the US cypher was “manipulated to create a narrative against the establishment and the opposition” by the ousted prime minister. A “conspiracy” has been used.
Reacting to his recent statement, a PTI spokesperson said the former bureaucrat is still missing, adding that the veracity of his statement is yet to be ascertained.
The spokesperson added that the Islamabad Capital Territory Police is still unable to trace Azam.
Earlier today, the ousted prime minister, who was ousted by a no-confidence vote in April last year, described Azam as an “honest man” and said he should not accept the statement until then. Until they hear the bureaucrats say it themselves.
On June 12, the former principal secretary went out of the house in the evening but did not return. The police had registered a case on charges of ‘abduction’ in Kohsar police station.
The former principal secretary made headlines last year when audio leaks allegedly surfaced of the former prime minister, his party leaders and him. In an audio leak, the former prime minister allegedly asked his then principal secretary to “play” with the American cipher.
Imran reportedly told Azam in the audio – the date of which cannot be determined at this time – that “let’s just play with the cipher” and not mention America.
In response, Azam outlines a scheme to Imran on how to use the cipher to further the PTI’s political agenda – and in it, he suggests using Foreign Secretary Sohail Mehmood as well to try to cover up the issue. can be highlighted at the “bureaucratic level”.
Another alleged audio clip of the PTI chairman and his team surfaced, just days after the ousted prime minister allegedly asked his then principal secretary to “play” with US ciphers. It was said.
Imran, Azam, Asad Umar and Shah Mehmood Qureshi were allegedly involved in this audio.
‘Cypher gate’ a premeditated conspiracy
Azam, who has been “missing” since last month, has recorded his statement under CrPC 164 before a magistrate, sources said, adding that there is no information about his whereabouts.
Imran alleged on March 27, 2022 that Washington planned to remove him from office – and used the cypher sign at a public rally to support his claims. The US has repeatedly denied such allegations and termed them as “blatant lies”.
In his confessional statement, Azam claimed that the former prime minister was “cheerful” when he shared the cipher with Imran and called the language “an American mistake”.
The former prime minister then said, according to Azam, that the cable could be used to “create a narrative against the establishment and the opposition”.
Imran also told Azam that the cipher could be used to divert public attention to “foreign involvement” in the opposition’s no-confidence motion, the affidavit said.
Azam’s confessional statement states that Imran told him that he would show the cipher to the public and “distort the narrative that there was a foreign conspiracy with local partners and that the victim card is being played”.
According to sources, when Azam told Imran that the cipher was a secret document and its contents could not be disclosed to the public, the then prime minister formally informed the then foreign minister Qureshi and the then foreign secretary Sohail Mehmood. Suggested meeting. Where they can read the cipher of the Foreign Ministry copy (as Imran Khan’s original copy was still missing) and decide further from the minutes of the meeting.
The affidavit also stated that the then Prime Minister decided to call a special meeting of the Cabinet and the National Security Division to discuss the cipher and note the minutes of the meetings.
However, he mentioned that while he was Imran’s principal secretary, the cipher was not returned to the Prime Minister’s Office because Imran had lost the original document.
Cable gate
The controversy first emerged on 27 March 2022, when Imran – less than a month before his ouster – published a letter claiming to be a foreign nation’s cipher, in which his The removal of the government from power was mentioned.
He did not reveal the contents of the letter or name the nation that sent it. But days later, he named the United States and said Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lowe had called for his removal.
This cipher was about the meeting of Asad Majeed, the former ambassador of Pakistan to America, with Lowe.
Claiming that he was reading the material from the cipher, the former prime minister said that “all will be forgiven for Pakistan if Imran Khan is removed from power”.
Then on 31 March, the National Security Committee (NSC) took up the matter and decided to issue a “strong demarche” to the country for “blatant interference in Pakistan’s internal affairs”.
Later, after his dismissal, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif convened a meeting of the NSC in which it came to the conclusion that no evidence of foreign conspiracy was found in this cipher.
In the two audio leaks that took the internet by storm and shocked the public after the events, the former prime minister, the then federal minister Asad Umar and the then principal secretary to the prime minister were allegedly exposed to the US cipher and its use. can be heard talking about doing in their interest.
On September 30, the federal cabinet took notice of the matter and constituted a committee to probe the contents of the audio leaks.
In October, the cabinet handed over the case to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), giving the green signal to initiate action against the former prime minister.
Once the FIA was tasked to investigate the matter, it summoned Imran, Umar and other party leaders but the PTI chief obtained an injunction from the court challenging the summons.
This Tuesday (July 18), the Lahore High Court withdrew the FIA’s injunction against Imran’s call-up notice.
