His remarks came as an alleged confession of Azam, Imran’s principal secretary when he was prime minister, surfaced on social media wherein he claimed that the narrative behind the cipher — which the PTI chief has for long presented as evidence of a “foreign conspiracy” to oust him from the top office — was fabricated.
Interestingly, the development comes a day after the Lahore High Court (LHC) withdrew a stay order against the call-up notice to Imran by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in an inquiry into an audio leak relating to the cipher. At the same time, a senior US official also publicly defended Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu, who was blamed by Imran for orchestrating the no-confidence vote that led to his ouster.
At the outset of the press conference in Islamabad, Sanaullah said Azam’s statement was a “charge sheet against Imran Khan Niazi”.
Also read
“It shows who conspired against this country and its institutions and played a game for his personal and political interest while damaging the country’s interests.
“On the one hand, he pushed the economy into a crisis and on the other, damaged the country’s foreign ties,” he maintained.
The minister said this person had “committed a crime” for which he should be “punished at all costs as those who played with the country’s interests have confessed their crime”.
And former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was also “fully involved in this crime”, he added.
Elaborating on the alleged crime, he said, “Making a classified document or a [piece of] information public and then taking it in one’s possession — no person is legally eligible to have it (cipher) in their custody”. The minister also likened the case to proceedings initiated against former US president Donald Trump on allegations of mishandling classified documents.
He further alleged that while “Imran told Azam that the cipher had gone missing, my assessment is that he (Imran) still has it”.
“So the cypher is with him. He has not just committed the crime of making it public, but he continues to be guilty of a crime by keeping it in his possession until he is arrested in this case and the cypher is recovered,” the minister said.
During the press conference, the interior minister was also asked about whether a case against those involved in the alleged conspiracy would be registered under Article 6 (high treason) of the Constitution.
“The law department’s opinion would be the final [decision] on this, but I think the Official Secrets Act is more relevant [in this case],” the interior minister said.
“Nevertheless, this is a punishable crime — to conspire against the country, expose a secret document and use it for your own interests and to damage the country’s interest and then to steal it, take it in your possession — this is a clear crime under the Official Secrets Act and it should be prosecuted.
“A punishment should be meted out over this and the [cipher] should be recovered,” he said.
Asked whether this case would also be referred to a “special court” as others being conducted under the Official Secrets Act, he replied in the affirmative.
“Yes, this case will definitely be referred to a special court,” he said emphatically
0 Comments