Islamabad: A joint investigation team (JIT) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) interrogated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman in a case related to the cipher.
The FIA launched investigations against the ex-prime minister for allegedly making public a confidential diplomatic cable and keeping it in his possession.
Earlier today, FIA’s Counter-Terrorism Wing registered a case in connection with the “missing cipher” from the official record of the Prime Minister’s Office and indicted Khan in the case, well-placed sources said.
They also confirmed that the JIT grilled Khan in Attock jail on Tuesday (yesterday). “The JIT met Khan in the office of the deputy superintendent jail,” according to FIA sources.
The PTI chief at the end of his government claimed that the cipher contains details of a threat made by the United States against his government, it emerged on Wednesday.
In a public gathering on March 27, 2022, in Islamabad, Khan brandished a letter claiming that it was evidence of an “international conspiracy” backed by the US to topple his government.
Last month, the probe agency had grilled the deposed prime minister for nearly two hours in the case after the Lahore High Court (LHC) withdrew a stay order against the call-up notice to Khan by the FIA into the audio leak involving the US diplomatic cable.
Last month, the cipher drama took a new turn when former premier Khan’s then-principal secretary Azam Khan “recorded” a statement, terming the US cipher a “conspiracy” used by the ex-PM to “manipulate for creating a narrative against establishment and opposition.
Azam, who had been “missing” since June this year, recorded his statement under CrPC 164 before a magistrate, sources said.
The former bureaucrat, in his confession, said when he provided the ex-premier with the cipher, he was “euphoric” and termed the language a “US blunder”. The former prime minister, according to Azam, then said that the cable could be used for “creating a narrative against establishment and opposition”.
In response to the development, Imran termed Azam an “honest man” and said he would not accept the statement until he heard the bureaucrat say it himself.
The PTI, however, termed the statement attributed to the ex-principal secretary, on the US cipher conspiracy “unverified”, and said it was a “set of contradictions”.
