Islamabad: Pakistan’s incarcerated former PM Imran Khan has admitted to misplacing the cipher that he had previously blamed for an alleged conspiracy against his government by the US. The admission came during an interrogation by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Attock jail, where Khan is serving a three-year sentence for a graft case related to the failure to report details of gifts from the state treasure house in annual asset declarations to the nation’s election commission.
FIA had registered a case on August 15 against Khan and his PTI party’s vice chief Shah Mahmood Qureshi under the Official Secrets Act, 1923. The case stemmed from a report by the US media outlet “the Intercept”, which revealed contents of a diplomatic cipher that was allegedly missing from Khan’s possession.
During the interrogation, Khan reportedly admitted: “I cannot recall where I kept it (cipher).” He cooperated with the FIA’s team during the hour-long questioning, stating that the paper he gestured to at a public gathering last year was not the cipher but rather cabinet meeting minutes. He claimed that it was his right as the PM to have the document, but couldn’t explain why he presented it as the cipher in public.
This is the second time Khan has been interrogated by the agency in Attock jail in the past month. Sources said this session likely marked the conclusion of the investigation into the cipher issue, with the investigation expected to be finalised in the coming week. The cipher controversy emerged just before Khan’s removal from office through ano-confidence vote in April 2022.