ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday contended that cypher exists and it is with the chief justice and is seen by the president and the army chief, saying the alleged confession by Azam Khan, the ex-principal secretary to the prime minister, is “full of contradictions”.
In a strongly-worded response to the alleged “confessional statement” by Azam Khan, the ‘missing’ ex-principal secretary to the prime minister, PTI spokesman Rauf Hassan said the former top bureaucrat must have been forced to become an approver against Imran Khan.
“The veracity of Azam Khan’s statement is yet to be confirmed, but no one can deny the fact that he’s been missing since June 17,” he added. He said that a formal case was registered with ICT police after Azam Khan went missing mysteriously from the federal capital about a month ago, and to date, the police failed to trace him down.
Police register FIR of former principal secretary to PM Azam Khan’s going ‘missing’
He said the irony was that his confessional statement came to the surface before his recovery, adding recording statement of 164 by a missing person in front of the magistrate was unimaginable in the eyes of legal experts.
“[…] disclosing the contents of 164 statement of a missing person was a separate crime of its own nature,” he added.
He stated that Azam Khan’s alleged statement is no different than the pressers done by incarcerated PTI leaders who were then forced to join the Tehreek-e-Istehkam and some other so-called parties recently set up with the backing of the establishment.
He said the PTI chief had plainly told the nation about the real motives behind the ongoing forced disappearances and illegal arrests in the country, adding that was nothing but a willful attempt to prepare approvers under pressure and coercion to expel Imran Khan from the political arena.
“The release of the ‘script’ to media in such haste and frustration was disastrous for the state’s position on the cypher,” he added.
The PTI spokesperson stated that the National Security Committee had confirmed the contents of the cypher in its meetings chaired by two different prime ministers, Imran Khan and Shehbaz Sharif.
In both the meetings, he added, the entire civil and military leadership unanimously called the cypher, “blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan”.
He stated that on the basis of the cypher, America was demarched in Islamabad and Washington, adding that a special cabinet meeting before National Security Committee meeting reviewed the cypher and declassified it.
He continued that both the Speaker National Assembly and the President recommended the Chief Justice of Pakistan to carry out a comprehensive and effective probe into the cypher issue.
The PTI spokesperson said the PTI chairman, first as prime minister and then as the head of the country’s largest political party demanded a high-level investigation into the cypher.
He questioned why the Pemra kept a criminal silence over the displaying and promoting unverified information on national media.
He said the federal government should tell the truth to the court and the nation pertaining to Azam Khan, instead of running factories of rumours and false statements.
He demanded that the nation should be informed about his whereabouts, the case in which he was arrested and his recorded statement.
He said the “jokers of Jati Umra” should not hide and come to face the nation in the open and answer some serious questions.
He stated that every lies-based idol carved by these crooks with great efforts and struggle was being smashed by the nation with one strike instantly.
PTI’s Farrukh Habib said that Azam Khan was first abducted, after which “all law enforcement and investigative agencies” denied having him in their custody.
“Today, suddenly news emerges that [Azam Khan’s] statement has been recorded before a magistrate under [Section] 164,” he added.
“Any statement recorded during kidnapping or under torture and pressure has no legal status.” He further said that a “drama and lie” was being run as the incumbent government “could not compete with Imran’s popularity”.
PTI leader Shahbaz Gill — who currently represents the party in the United States — recalled in a tweet the demarche given in response to the cypher after declaring it as “serious interference” in Pakistan’s internal affairs.
In another tweet, he said, “By the way, the statement for Section 164 is recorded before the magistrate. The police have said that they do not have Azam Khan.”
“Has Azam Khan been kidnapped by the magistrate?” he questioned.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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