PTI dismisses Azam Khan's 'confession'

Shrugging off the alleged confessions made by ex-principal secretary Azam Khan, PTI on Wednesday called into question the veracity of the former bureaucrat’s statement, terming it a “pile of contradictions”.

The cypher saga took an unexpected turn earlier in the day as the former bureaucrat "recorded" a statement, terming the US cypher a "conspiracy" used by the deposed premier to "manipulate for creating a narrative against establishment and opposition".

Reacting to his statement, a PTI spokesperson pointed out that Azam Khan was still missing and therefore, his statement's veracity was yet to be ascertained.
Azam, who has been “missing” since last month purportedly recorded the statement before a judicial magistrate. However, his whereabouts have not been disclosed yet.

The PTI chief, who was deposed as premier in April 2022 through a parliamentary vote of no confidence, had accused Washington in March last year of orchestrating a plan to oust him. He had referred to the cypher in question as evidence for his claims.

Later the same year, the PTI chief shifted the blame from the United States to previous army chief General (Retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa, saying he wished to mend fences with the former.

According to Khan’s purported confessional statement, on March 8, 2022, then foreign secretary approached him and informed him of the cypher, which was sent to his residence later the same evening. Khan said that the foreign secretary told him that then-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had already discussed the cypher with the PTI chief.

This was confirmed the next day when Khan presented the cypher to the PTI chief, according to the alleged statement.

The PTI chief allegedly told Khan that the “cypher can be used to divert [the] general public’s attention towards foreign involvement in NCM [no confidence motion] by [the] opposition”.

Khan handed over the cypher to the PTI chief upon the latter’s request but when he asked for it the next day - March 10, 2022 - he was told that it had been misplaced, according to Sanaullah.

In his confessional statement, Khan allegedly said that the PTI chief had told him that the cypher would be displayed in front of the public and a narrative would be constructed implying that “a foreign conspiracy is being hatched in collusion with local partners”.

The PTI chief allegedly confided in Khan that he would play the “victim card”.