ISLAMABAD – Former prime minister Imran Khan, who has been sentenced to jail for 10 years in cipher case, has accused former army chief Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa of getting the confidential document stolen form the PM House.
The PTI founder made the allegations in his statement recorded under Section 342 in the cipher missing case. He said one of his ADC had stolen the diplomatic cable from his office at the nod of the former army chief.
Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan and his second in line Shah Mahmood Qureshi were given a 10-year prison sentence in cipher case, after a special court found them guilty of leaking state secrets.
Judge Abu Alhasnaat Zulqurnain of special court announced the verdict in Adiala Jail. PTI founder and his second in line Shah Mahmood Qureshi faced the high profile case for allegedly retaining and communicating a classified diplomatic cable sent by Pakistan’s ambassador to US.
The PTI founder said the cipher was present inside the PM House, adding that military secretary, principal secretary and protocol secretary were responsible for the security of the building.
“It is the only document that went missing from the PM House during my three and half years tenure,” he said.
He said the military secretary had conducted an investigation into the matter and told him that no clue was found about the missing cipher.
Khan alleged Bajwa of hiring the former Pakistani ambassador Husain Haqqani for lobbying against him, adding that the former army chief also used the ISI to pressurise people for parting way with the PTI.
He said when he talked about the conspiracy with Gen Bajwa, he ruled out it. He said the ISI had been working against his party despite his meetings with the former COAS.
Taking about his Russian visit, he said both Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Gen Bajwa were on board.
He said the paper, which was waved in the parade ground rally, carried paraphrased content of the cipher, adding that he had not name any country during his calculated address. Khan said the paper was waved publicly just to gave a message to Gen Bajwa that whole plan will be exposed if the PTI government was toppled.
Imran Khan, Shah Mahmood handed 10-year sentence in cipher case
