Diplomat who wrote cipher will testify today

ISLAMABAD: Asad Majeed, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States whose cipher was weaponised by Imran Khan to discredit his political opponents and the military establishment, will record his statement today (Tuesday) about the same cipher before the trial court being held in Adiala Jail.

He will be the first among the five witnesses scheduled to testify on the same date. Others are Faisal Tirmizi, former additional secretary at the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Hasseb Gohar, Director MoFA, Farrukh Abbas of state-run TV and Mian Sabir Hussain, Investigation Officer of the FIA in the cipher case. They will record statements before the special court’s judge, Abual Hasnat.

On late Monday, Sohail Mehmood, former foreign secretary, Yousaf Naseem Khokhar, former secretary interior who initiated complaint on behalf of the state, Awaid Irshad Bhatti, the special magistrate and Muhammad Nauman, a cipher assistant at MoFA recorded their statements. Aftab Durrani, the current interior secretary was also supposed to appear but he couldn’t make it due to another engagement.

Asad, in his earlier statement before the FIA, had said he didn’t consider American diplomat, Donald Lu’s conversation as a part of conspiracy to topple Imran Khan government but the language he used was harsh and highly undiplomatic therefore he recommended issuing a demarche to him by the MoFA. Meeting with Donald Lu was held on March 7 at a lunch hosted by Asad. He dispatched the cipher on the same day and spoke to foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Asad told the FIA that he never met Azam Khan, though he tried to do that during his visit to Pakistan after this episode. Nor anyone from the PTI government spoke with him on this matter afterward. He said Donald Lu’s language was unbecoming of a diplomat. But he also contextualised this bitterness which emanated from Imran Khan’s visit to Russia and his statement about the European Union. “I told him that he was speaking out of the line,” he said in his statement. Asad later served as foreign secretary and then retired.

Faisal Tirmizi, now Pakistan’s ambassador to UAE, was then additional secretary in MoFA dealing with the USA at the time when the cipher episode was taking place. He has been called to testify because he represented the MoFA’s secretary before the cabinet meeting held after a meeting on the cipher took place in Banigala on March 28, 2022. The secretary together with the minister Qureshi were out for a visit to China. Mian Sabir, being the investigation officer, will testify the statements recorded before him by different prosecution witnesses.