Imran says Shehbaz proved cipher is a reality

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan “thanked” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for “deliberately leaking the Prime Minister House audio”, saying that it “proved that the cipher was a reality”.

Addressing a public rally in Muzaffarabad, Azam Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Imran said his government stopped trade with India after New Delhi’s illegal action of August 5, 2019 but the son-in-law of Maryam Nawaz imported machinery from India.

“By leaking the audio from the Prime Minister House, Shehbaz Sharif himself has revealed the truth about the cipher. I thank him for that,” Imran said, referring to the audio leak on Wednesday, purportedly of his conversation with his then principle secretary.

The audio leak has brought Imran’s narrative of foreign conspiracy into renewed focus, particularly the diplomatic cable – cipher – he has touted at a public rally in March as a proof of a US-backed conspiracy to topple his government.

“The audio leak proves that the cipher was a reality,” Imran told the rally. “It stated that if the no-confidence motion against me was not successful, there will be consequences,” the PTI chairman added.

Imran said that turncoats were also present in the AJK assembly and urged the people not to let them come forward “because it is an insult to your vote”. He assured the people that as long as he was alive, he would not let the sacrifices of the Kashmiri people go waste.

He recalled that when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked the special status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), “My government ended trade relations with India and we decided that we will not restore the ties until they restore IIOJK’s status.”

However, the PTI chairman alleged, Maryam Nawaz’s son-in-law imported machinery from India. “Maryam’s son-in-law is building a housing society in which a grid station will be installed with taxpayers’ money,” he added.

Criticising the new finance minister, Ishaq Dar, Imran said that “a man came back yesterday. He [Dar] had fled in the prime minister’s plane and had come back after striking a deal. Whenever Dar became the minister, the country went bankrupt.”

Earlier, AJK Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan said that Imran Khan had given the agenda of accountability and relief for the common man, which was being implemented. he added that Imran Khan was the leader who challenged the “status quo”.

The prime minister appreciated Imran for advocating the Kashmir cause. “In the United Nations, you spoke on Kashmir for 24 minutes and presented the case of the Kashmiris in a comprehensive manner,” he said.

On the contrary, he said, “the current prime minister [Shehbaz Sharif] who calls himself a Kashmiri, did not even mention the name of Kashmiris in the United Nations”, adding that “Imran Khan has proved himself to be the ambassador of the Kashmiris.”