Imran Khan should be tried under secrets act: PMLN

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) leaders on Saturday said that PTI Chairman Imran Khan should be tried under the Official Secrets Act for stealing a cipher from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

In a press conference, they said that Parliament will decide to invoke Article 6 against Imran Khan and his abettors after consultations. They said that audio leaks of the PM Office are a serious security breach. They said that Imran Khan had taken away the cipher from the PM’s Office by concealing it in his diary.

PMLN Vice President Maryam Nawaz, along with PMLN stalwarts including Ishaq Dar, Rana Sanaullah, Ahsan Iqbal, Pervez Rashid, Azam Nazir Tarar and Marryium Aurangzeb, addressed a press conference in Model Town here on Saturday evening.

Maryam said in the US, law enforcement agencies raided Trump’s house and similarly, it should also be done here and Banigala should be searched for the recovery of cipher.

Maryam Nawaz said that she was surprised at the country’s system because the person (Imran) who should be in jail was roaming free. She said that PTI Chairman Imran Khan was deliberately making the appointment of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) controversial by talking about this issue in his public meetings.

Declaring Imran Khan as the biggest liar in the history of Pakistan, Maryam said if she starts exposing Imran Khan’s lies, it will take hours. “Many elected prime ministers and dictators came but the label of treason only suits Imran Khan,” said Maryam.

Maryam Nawaz welcomed Ishaq Dar and said the nation heaved a sigh of relief with a decrease in petroleum prices after a long period and hoped that the people will get more relief in the coming days.

Talking about the audio leaks, Maryam Nawaz said the more people listen to Imran Khan’s audios, the more they will understand how big conspiracy he had planned. She said the PMLN will not allow this ‘foreign-funded Fitna Khan’ to mislead the nation anymore. “The data of Prime Minister’s House was stolen, my audio was also leaked,” she said adding, “We will never hear anything against the country because Pakistan is our only interest.”

Maryam continued to say that when Imran Khan found out that he was going to leave, he hatched the conspiracy of foreign interference for regime change. She said the recent audio leaks have completely exposed his conspiracy, which was the biggest lie of this century. “The conspiracy has not been hatched by the establishment or PDM but the leader of this conspiracy is Fitna Imran Khan himself,” Maryam Nawaz added and maintained that Azam Khan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Asad Umar were also involved in the conspiracy led by Imran Khan.

She said it was a pity that instead of taking steps for the betterment of people in the Prime Minister’s House, Fitna Khan hatched conspiracies against the country. She said she wanted to give credit to Asad Umer who raised objections on that occasion but Imran Khan turned the cipher into a foreign conspiracy.

Maryam Nawaz said that Pakistan’s sensitive document was replaced by forgery and later it was stolen from the PM House. “The original copy of the cipher is missing from the Prime Minister’s House. Like mineral water, the cipher was taken away because it is forged,” she stated.

PMLN’s Central Vice President urged Imran Khan to apologise to the people and his party in front of whom he waved a forged letter for insulting the collective wisdom of Pakistanis and conspired against the integrity of national security, foreign policy and diplomatic relations. She said because of this conspiracy, Pakistan faced a huge loss on the diplomatic front and its relations with the friendly countries were also affected. She said Lt Gen (retd) Zaheerul Islam and Lt General (retd) Shuja Pasha supported Imran Khan and brought him into power after which Imran Khan played with the country’s economy. “Imran Khan’s audio leaks are an indictment of Fitna,” she said adding Imran Khan received dollars from enemy forces for which the ECP law was very clear.

Maryam Nawaz said in his audios, he was asking his party leaders not to mention America while in public he was raising the slogan “we are not slaves”. On the other hand, PTI hired a lobbying firm from America to improve relations. “As Imran Khan destabilised the country with external funding, the constitutional crisis surfaced,” she said, adding Imran Khan violated the Constitution many times as he considered himself superior to the Constitution and law. He wanted a foreign policy of his choice and when he saw himself losing, he tried to set the country on fire. She said Fitnah Khan ruled for four years, destroyed the economy and held the people hostage.

Criticising ex-finance minister Shaukat Tarin, she said the nation listened to his audio in which he was ordering the finance ministers of two provinces to write letters to the IMF so that funds might not be released to Pakistan. She claimed that the PMLN has saved this country from becoming another Sri Lanka. Maryam said first Imran threatened the Judge Zeba and then declared it a mistake.

“Nawaz Sharif decided to go for nuclear explosions despite international pressure and threats and his action was ‘Absolutely Not’ in real terms,” Maryam Nawaz said. “The country’s institutions have been criticised and Pakistan’s forces have been made controversial, the real Mir Sadiq and Mir Jaffar is Imran Khan.” She said: “The law has not yet reached the neck of this traitor and he is roaming free by selling watches of Toshakhana.”

Maryam Nawaz demanded immediate arrest of Imran Khan before he could cause an irreparable damage to the country. “Imran Khan is not our darling, he must be someone else’s darling,” she said and maintained that the person who was accused of treason was also making the appointment of Army Chief controversial. She said in the coming days, more of his audios would surface.

Answering a question, she said a committee has been formed to investigate the person making confession. She said what evidence was needed against him as now the country was at stake.

Responding to a question about the import of machinery from India by his son-in-law, Maryam Nawaz said that machinery came during Imran Khan’s tenure and in accordance with the laws of the country.

To a question about an extension to General Bajwa, she refused to speculate on the issue and simply said DG ISPR himself has said that the Army Chief is not asking for an extension in his tenure.

To another query, she said the Sehat Card was started by Nawaz Sharif and she has not asked anyone to stop the health programme. “Very soon Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan,” Maryam Nawaz said in a reply to a question.

While addressing the press conference, Ishaq Dar accused the PTI government led by Imran Khan of paralysing the country’s economy and bringing it to the brink of default. “Imran Khan’s ultimate agenda is total annihilation of the country,” Dar said adding PTI had brought the economy where all the macroeconomic indicators were blinking red.

He claimed that former principal secretary Azam Khan has admitted that he gave Imran Khan the diplomatic cipher, which had been stolen from the records of the Prime Minister’s House. Dar said that the cipher was missing from the archives but the audio leaks have exposed their plan.

“The Official Secrets Act is violated by Imran Khan,” he said and maintained that Imran Khan is solely responsible for this whole travesty. “If we do not take action to bring this matter to its logical conclusion, it would be another breach of the Constitution,” he stated.

Dar revealed that the cabinet had reviewed all the aspects of this issue. “The minutes drafted regarding the cipher are available, however, the original document is missing, which proves that conspiracy was not hatched by the incumbent coalition government instead the PTI is behind this,” he said adding that a meeting of the National Security Committee has also been held in this regard. “We will betray our Constitution if we do not take it to its logical end,” he further added. He said in public, Imran Khan made big claims and announcements while in private meetings he directed his party leaders not to mention America as behind the alleged foreign conspiracy.

Talking about the economic situation, he said the mess created during the last four years could not be cleaned in four or five months. He said the PMLN government will make all efforts to stop further destruction and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s team is already working to provide relief to the masses. He stated that the country was close to default but was saved by the sincere efforts of the PDM government. “The currency has improved, the debt of Rs14 billion has been reduced in a week,” he said and added the PMLN government has given relief in diesel and petrol prices. He revealed that around 4,600 LCs were stalled and claimed that hopefully there will be more improvement in the coming weeks.

“I can responsibly say that the rupee depreciation was artificial,” Ishaq Dar said while answering a question. He said he will not leave the country now. He further said if the adventure like Panama had not happened, the country’s economy would not have been in this condition. He said that the objections raised by Maryam Nawaz on the economic conditions viz-a-viz the common man were legitimate but the PMLN government cannot take any action on its own and will take its coalition partners on board in every decision. He said Parliament will decide to invoke Article 6 against Imran Khan and his abettors after consultation.

In a related development, a magistrate in the federal capital issued arrest warrants for former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan in a case related to threatening a female judge Zeba Chaudhry in a public speech.

The area magistrate issued an arrest warrant in the case registered on August 20 at Margalla Police Station against the PTI chief for his remarks regarding Additional District and Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry. The FIR includes four sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), including 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 189 (threat of injury to public servant), and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant).

The former prime minister is already facing contempt charges for his controversial remarks about additional district and sessions judge. The court issued an arrest warrant for Imran Khan due to his non-appearance in court. The Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued the warrant hours after the former prime minister submitted an affidavit in a contempt case against him. Following the issuance of the warrant, PTI leader Asad Umar warned the government against arresting Imran Khan, saying that they will “regret” the decision.

Meanwhile, former information minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the issuance of a warrant in such a “weak” case was pointless. “A circus has been created in the media by issuing warrants over pointless legal clauses,” he wrote on Twitter.

Refuting all claims that Imran Khan has left his residence for an unidentified location, Senator Shibli Faraz shared a picture of the PTI chief feeding his dog at his residence. “Imran Khan feeding dogs at this very moment while rumours are rife that police are intending to arrest him,” he wrote.

Earlier Saturday, Imran Khan, for the third time, avoided tendering an unconditional apology in a contempt case as he submitted his response to the IHC. In the last hearing on September 22, the IHC delayed his indictment.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will file a plea to get an arrest warrant issued against Imran Khan suspended today (Sunday), former information minister Fawad Chaudhry said.

According to sources, PTI’s legal team has prepared a plea to get the arrest warrant suspended and it will be filed shortly at a local court today. Fawad Chaudhry confirmed the development and said that they would shortly file an application with the duty magistrate and hopefully, the warrant will be suspended. “Our lawyers would have appeared before the court if a notice was received,” he said, adding that it might be possible that the notice was sent to the wrong address. He said the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has already removed charges under 7ATA in the case.

Earlier, the PTI workers gathered at Imran Khan’s Banigala residence after reports of his impending arrest began to circulate. The Islamabad police subsequently issued a statement, explaining the reasons for the warrant which it said was a legal process. The police said that after the Islamabad High Court struck down terror charges from a case registered against Imran for his remarks, the case was transferred to a sessions court and the PTI chief had not obtained his bail from there. The police said he had also not attended the last court hearing on the issue and the arrest warrant was only issued to ensure his presence.

Later, the police said that rumours were being spread of a 300-member force being sent to Banigala. “There is no truth in this news and it is baseless,” the Islamabad police said, requesting people not to listen to propaganda.