ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s then principal secretary Azam Khan on Thursday testified before the special court hearing the cypher case against Khan and others that he had handed over the copy of cypher to the former premier but upon asking him [Khan] to return it, he told me that he has misplaced it.
Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain while hearing the case at Adiala jail recorded the testimony of Azam Khan. At the start of the hearing, Imran Khan came to the rostrum and requested the court to record the statement of the witness under oath on the Holy Quran.
To this, special prosecutor Zulfiqar Naqvi told the court that the witness was ready to record the statement under oath on the Holy Quran. The judge said that there is no need for a written application for recording a statement under oath on the Holy Quran. He has given verbal orders to provide the Holy Quran.
Prosecution witness Azam Khan took the oath by placing his hand on the Holy Quran and started recording his statement. He told the court that the foreign secretary approached him [Azam Khan] and informed him about the cypher telegram. The former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had already discussed the cypher with Imran Khan, he said.
He further said that in March 2022, his staff provided him a copy of cypher. The next day he took the copy of the cypher to Imran Khan, he said, adding that the former premier retained the copy of the cypher, and the next day when he asked for it, Imran Khan replied that he had misplaced it. The cypher copy mentioned our ambassador’s meetings with the US mission, he said.
Azam Khan further said that the former premier told him that the US authorities interfered in Pakistan’s internal affairs by sending cypher. Imran Khan further told him, it seems that this message is for the internal actors to table a no-confidence motion against us, the witness said.
The witness further said that he had advised Khan not to discuss cypher in public. The master copy of the cypher is present in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). A meeting was held regarding cypher at Bani Gala and it was decided in the meeting to place the matter before the federal cabinet, he said.
He said that the official of the MoFA read out the cypher in the cabinet meeting. It was decided at the cabinet meeting that the matter would be placed before National Security Committee (NSC), he said, adding that the NSC decided to issue a demarche.
Azam Khan informed the court that the copy of the cypher was not sent back until he left the charge. According to tradition, the copy of the cypher is sent back to the MOFA, he said, adding that in this matter such tradition has not been followed. I asked the former premier, military secretary (MS), and other staff several times to send back the copy of the cypher to me, he said.
The court also recorded the statements of witnesses, Aneesur Rehman, Javed Iqbal, Hidayat Ullah, and Muhammad Ashfaq.
The PTI founder and Qureshi’s legal team including Umair Niazi, Usman Gull, Sheraz Rajna, Ali Bukhari, and others, and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) prosecutor, Rizwan Abbasi, and Zulfiqar Abbas Naqvi appeared before the court.
The court after recording the statements of witnesses adjourned the hearing of the case till January 22.
When Imran Khan was asked inside the courtroom, AML chief Sheikh Rashid had not addressed at a press conference even then your party fielded a candidate in his constituency, he said that those workers who faced hard times including torture and did not address a press conference deserved tickets. If tickets have been awarded despite addressing the press conference, then everyone would say we are deserving.
To another question, he said he condemned Iran’s attack on Pakistan’s territory. He said that during his government he himself visited Iran and met with their Supreme Leader. Those people who want to deteriorate relations with Iran, today, they are happy, he said, adding that Afghanistan was very supportive before the current situation but now they are also thinking about closing their border.
He said that his legal team [lawyers] had done a great job and he wants tickets should be awarded to them. We were not allowed to bring our files, he said, adding that how he could decide about 850 tickets verbally.
He said that has authorised Shibli Faraz and Omar Ayub to decide about tickets.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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