FIA interrogates Imran in cypher case

Agency’s CTW team asks ex-premier about ‘missing copy’ of classified diplomatic document

ISLAMABAD:

The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Counter Terrorism Wing on Saturday interrogated PTI Chairman Imran Khan for more than an hour in connection with an FIR registered against him and others under the Official Secrets Act, 2023, for “wrongful use” and illegal retention of a cypher telegram – an official classified document.

The FIA CTW had registered a case against Imran and his fellow party leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi under sections 5 (wrongful communication, etc., of information) and 9 (attempts, incitements, etc.) of the Official Secrets Act of 1923 read with Section 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the then interior secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar in Islamabad upon the conclusion of an inquiry number 111/2023 dated Oct 5, 2022.

The FIR No 6/2023 stated that the role of the former prime minister’s principal secretary, Azam Khan, ex-planning minister Asad Umar, and others associates involved would be determined during the course of investigation.

It read that Imran, Qureshi, and their associates were involved in communication of information contained in a secret classified document – a cypher telegram received from Washington dated March 7, 2022 by the foreign affairs secretary – to unauthorised persons (public at large) by “twisting the facts to achieve their ulterior motives and personal gains” in a manner “prejudicial to the interests” of state security.

After the Toshakhana case, Azam Khan’s statement was also recorded in the cypher issue, following which the FIA's CTW proceeded to make arrests under the Official Secrets Act.

Read: JIT's investigation of Imran Khan under the ‘siege of black goats’

The FIA arrested Qureshi at his Islamabad residence on August 19 and was remanded in the custody of the agency by a special court. He too is being questioned in connection with the case.

According to sources, the FIA’s CW team reached Attock Jail, where the PTI chief is serving his three-year prison sentence in the Toshakhana (gift repository) case, at about 2pm and formally included him in the investigation of the case.

On August 5, Imran was arrested and sent to Attock Jail after a trial court found him guilty of making false declarations about his assets to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Additional Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar also disqualified the PTI chief for five years, apparently ending his prospects for taking part in the elections slated for November this year.

While being interrogated by the FIA’s investigation team, the former premier responded to queries about the revelations made by Qureshi during the latter's questioning.

The FIA CTW team also asked Imran about the copy of the diplomatic cypher, which reportedly went missing from his custody and which he had for long presented as evidence of a “foreign conspiracy” to remove him as the prime minister.

The investigation team questioned the PTI chairman till 3:30pm and left after recording his statement.