Complete statements of 25 witnesses against Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood in the cipher case

The statements of 25 prosecution witnesses against former Prime Minister Imran Khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi have been recorded in the Cipher Case being heard in the Official Secret Act Special Court.

Judge Abul Hasanat Muhammad Zulqarnain of the Special Court heard the cipher case against the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

During the hearing, Asad Majeed, the former ambassador of Pakistan to the United States, recorded his statement and told the court that he was the ambassador of Pakistan to the United States from January 2019 to March 2022. On March 7, 2022, Assistant Secretary of the US Department of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lou was invited to a working lunch.

Witness Asad Majeed said it was a pre-arranged meeting hosted at Pakistan House in Washington, with the Deputy Head of Mission and the Defense Attache also present.

The former ambassador said that in the meeting, both parties knew that the minutes of the meeting were being taken, the conversation in the meeting was reported to the Foreign Secretary in Islamabad through a cipher.

He explained that there was no reference to the words threat or conspiracy in the secret cipher telegram.

Asad Majeed further said that I was also called in the meeting of the National Security Committee, in the meeting of the National Security Committee it was decided to issue D-marsh which was suggested by me.

During the hearing, the statements of 5 more prosecution witnesses were also recorded in the case, those who recorded the statement include Interior Secretary Akbar Durrani, Farrukh Abbas, Faisal Tirmizi, Haseeb Gohar and the investigation officer of the case.

Later, the court adjourned the hearing of the case till tomorrow.

The lawyers of founder PTI and Shah Mehmood Qureshi will begin cross-examination of the witnesses from tomorrow.

It should be remembered that on January 8, the Official Secret Act Court of Islamabad issued a warrant for the release of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan in the cipher case.

However, Imran Khan could not be released due to being on judicial remand in the Tosha Khana and £190 million references.

On November 17, former Prime Minister and PTI chief Imran Khan approached the Supreme Court for post-arrest bail in the cipher case.

On December 22, the Supreme Court of Pakistan approved the post-arrest bail application of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the cipher case.

The Supreme Court, while accepting the petition, ordered founder PTI and Shah Mahmood Qureshi to submit a surety bond of Rs.10,10 lakh.

On October 9 last year, under the Official Secrets Act 1923, a special court had provided copies of the challan to former Prime Minister and Chairman PTI Imran Khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case, after which they were charged. had gone

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had filed a challan in the court on September 30, alleging Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi for disclosing the secret text of the cipher and losing the cipher under Sections 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act. was declared the main accused in the case.

Cipher case

The cipher case is related to a diplomatic document that allegedly disappeared from the possession of Imran Khan, in the same case former Prime Minister and Vice Chairman PTI Shah Mehmood Qureshi was in jail on judicial remand.

PTI alleges that in this cipher, Imran Khan was threatened by the US to remove him from power.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi was named in the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the FIA ​​and booked under Section 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code along with Sections 5 (Misuse of Information) and 9 of the Official Secrets Act. went.

In the FIR, on 7 March 2022, the then Foreign Secretary received a diplomatic cipher from Washington, on 5 October 2022, a case was registered in the FIA’s Counter-Terrorism Department against former Prime Minister Imran Khan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi. And Asad Umar and his aides were accused of endangering national security and seeking personal gain by distorting the information contained in the cipher.

The case said that former Prime Minister Imran Khan, former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and their aides were involved in providing classified information to unauthorized persons.

Cipher was quoted as saying that ‘they held a secret meeting on March 28, 2022 at Bani Gala (Imran Khan’s residence) to hatch a conspiracy by misusing the details of the cipher to achieve their nefarious purpose’.

It was said in the case that ‘accused Imran Khan with wrong intention instructed his then Principal Secretary Muhammad Azam Khan to prepare minutes in this secret meeting by changing the text of the cipher for his personal interest at the cost of national security. ‘.

The FIR alleged that the copy of the cipher sent to the Prime Minister’s Office was deliberately kept by then Prime Minister Imran Khan with ulterior motives and never returned to the Ministry of External Affairs.

It was further informed that ‘the said cipher (classified secret document) is still illegally in the possession of Imran Khan, the entire cipher security system of the state and Pakistani missions abroad by the unauthorized acquisition and misuse of the cipher telegram by the nominated person. ‘s encrypted messaging mechanism has been compromised’.

The FIR stated that the actions of the accused directly or indirectly benefited external powers and caused damage to the State of Pakistan.

The case filed in the FIA ​​further stated that “the competent authority has approved the registration of the case, therefore, the FIA ​​Anti-Terrorism Wing at the Islamabad Police Station under Sections 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act of the Pakistan Penal Code.” A case under Section 34 has been filed against former Prime Minister Imran Khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi for misuse of official secret information and illegal acquisition of Cipher Telegram (official secret document) under the guise of malice and Azam Khan as Principal Secretary, The role of former federal minister Asad Umar and other involved assistants will be determined during the investigation.