ISLAMABAD - The Federal Investigation Agency's Counter-Terrorism Wing has filed a case against former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan for allegedly misplacing a top secret diplomatic cipher.
According to FIA sources, serious charges have been levelled against Imran Khan over the matter. Though there is clear response from the FIA, yet a senior officer, on the condition of anonymity, stated that they had been instructed by authorities to remain silent.
On July 25, the PTI chairman had appeared before the joint investigation team (JIT) formed on the matter and provided answers to questions posed by the officials for nearly two hours.
Former prime minister Imran Khan at a rally in Islamabad on March 27, 2022 had brandished a letter claiming that it was the evidence of an international conspiracy backed by the US to topple his government.
Last week, reports emerged that the JIT probing the cipher issue was nearing the conclusion of its findings but the latest publication of alleged content of the secret cable document in an online American news organisation has forced it to expand its investigation to cover the aspect of the leak to the media.
The sources said the JIT was keen to see how and who had leaked the document’s content to the media and whether the content of the cipher, as shared by The Intercept, is original or exaggerated.
These sources hoped that the probe would conclude within a week or 10 days.
Retention of the cipher copy by the former prime minister, the source said, is an admitted fact. It is an offence, the source said. Twisting and manipulation of the secret document for political gain is also a violation of the law, added the source. The JIT, which was constituted by the former government, had already grilled Khan, Fawad Chaudhry, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, and Foreign Office officials.