Cipher JIT finds material against Imran

ISLAMABAD: The JIT probing the cipher issue was nearing the conclusion of its findings but the latest publication of alleged content of the secret cable document in an online American news organisation has forced it to expand its investigation to cover the aspect of leak to the media.

Informed sources said the JIT is keen to see how and who has leaked the document’s content to the media and whether the content of the cipher, as shared by The Intercept, is original or exaggerated.

These sources hoped that the probe would conclude within a week or 10 days. This correspondent was told that the investigation so far done makes a case against former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan, who is presently in the Attock Jail after having been convicted in the Toshakhana case by an Islamabad district court.

Retention of the cipher copy by the former prime minister, it is said, is an admitted fact. It is an offence, a source said. Twisting and manipulation of the secret document for political gain is also a violation of the law, added the source.

The JIT, which was constituted by the outgoing government of prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, has already interviewed Imran Khan, Fawad Chaudhry, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar and Foreign Office officials. It is said that the JIT may not need to interview anyone else.

Most critical part of the JIT probe pertains to the statement of Azam Khan, ex-principal secretary to the former prime minister, who had told the FIA and also stated before a magistrate that the former PM had used the US cipher for his ‘political gains’ and to avert no-confidence motion against him.

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”.

Azam Khan said the US cipher was used in political gatherings by the PTI chairman, despite his advice to him to avoid such acts. Azam Khan said that the former prime minister also told him that the cipher could be used to divert the public’s attention towards “foreign involvement” in the opposition’s no-confidence motion.

Imran Khan had appeared before the JIT last month. He was called again on August 1 to appear before the probe team in the FIA but the PTI chairman avoided joining further probe into the matter.

Former interior minister Rana Sanaullah termed Azam Khan’s statement his “confession” and a charge sheet against Imran Khan. The former interior minister had said that although Imran Khan had told Azam Khan that he lost the cipher, Sanaullah believed that the secret document was still with the PTI chairman.

The interior minister of Shehbaz Sharif government was of the view that Imran Khan should be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act for exposing a secret document and using it for his own political interests and to damage the country’s interests and for stealing it and taking it in his own possession.