Imran Khan refuses to join FIA probe over controversial tweet

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan refused to answer any questions asked by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Adiala jail related to his controversial social media post on X, formerly Twitter, sources told Geo News.

An FIA cyber crime team reached Adiala jail late Thursday night to interrogate the former prime minister over his tweet, however, Khan refused to meet the team and become part of the investigation, said the sources. 

Khan refused to answer any questions from the FIA ​​team, said the sources. He added that he would answer any question in the presence of his lawyers.  

The sources added that the FIA's probe team took the PTI founder's response in writing.

The development comes after FIA's cyber crime wing on Thursday decided to initiate action against Khan over his controversial tweet on social media.

A post on X was attributed to the former premier, which read: "Every Pakistani should study the Hamood ur Rahman Commission Report and get to know who was the true traitor, General Yahya Khan or Sheikh Mujibur Rahman."

However, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar said that the post had nothing to do with Khan as he did not see the text of the posts that were uploaded to his account.

Gohar also defended the tweet and said it was taken out of context.

"The context and comparison that we drew with 1971 was in a political context and not otherwise — nothing about the army," the PTI chairman said.

On the other hand, the former ruling party also defended the post, saying that the events of 1971 were referred to only as a reminder so people can learn from history as it slammed the criticism.

The post on PTI supremo's account drew severe criticism from all quarters, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who said Imran's true face was finally in front of the nation.

In response, sources in the FIA told Geo News that the decision to take action was made as a "propaganda video" which included Mujeeb was uploaded from the PTI founder's account on May 26.

"The PTI founder is in Adiala Jail, but his account is being used to upload propaganda videos. FIA's cyber wing will speak to four people from the PTI on this issue," the sources had said.

Those four people, the sources added, include Khan, Gohar, PTI Information Secretary Raoof Hasan, and Secretary-General Omar Ayub.

The agency's team will determine whether the post was uploaded by the PTI founder himself or with his consent. It will also probe who made the "anti-Pakistan propaganda" video.

"If this act is done by the account holder, legal action will be taken against him. In case the account holder did not post, then he would have to apply for the closure of his X account."