Another setback to Imran Khan after close aide's confession

Islamabad, July 20 (IANS) In another setback to Imran Khan, a close aide's confessional statement had allegedly exposed the former Pakistan Prime Minister’s deliberate misuse of a cipher to build on his anti-establishment and the regime change narrative.

In his confession, Imran Khan's former principal secretary Azam Khan detailed how the former premier used the cipher from Pakistan’s mission in the US to gain political mileage and build on his anti-establishment and the regime change narrative.  

According to details, Azam Khan’s statement was supposedly recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. 

“On March 8, 2022, the Foreign Secretary approached Azam Khan and informed him regarding the cipher... and that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had already discussed the cipher with Imran Khan,” the statement said. 

“Imran Khan was euphoric after seeing the cipher and decided to use it to build on anti-establishment narrative on the back of a ‘blunder’ committed by the US. 

"The cipher copy was retained by Imran Khan and the next day (March 10) when he (Azam Khan) asked for it, Imran Khan replied that he has misplaced it. Imran Khan did not return the original cipher despite repeated requests," the statement added. 

It also highlighted that Azam Khan had advised the former premier not to disclose the contents of the cipher as it was a confidential document. 

Later, it was decided to call for a meeting between Imran Khan, Qureshi, Azam Khan and Foreign Secretary on the matter, in which, minutes of the meeting would be penned down and could be used for the political narrative building. 

Azam Khan's statement has been termed by government officials as a charge sheet against Imran Khan and proposed it to be used under the Official Secrets Act to prosecute the former premier.  

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said the confessional statement has exposed the whole agenda of Imran Khan, which was spread across the country to inject hate and anger against the military establishment. 

Soon after Sanaullah’s statement, the FIA issued a notice to Imran Khan to appear before its office in Islamabad on July 25. 

Meanwhile, Imran Khan has said that it was hard to digest that Azam Khan would issue such a statement. 

“Azam Khan is an honest man; until I hear this from him myself, I will not believe it”, he said. 

The former Prime Minister also announced that he will share uncensored details of what he termed as "cipher drama". 

Taking to Twitter, he said: “In their feverish attempts to implicate me in any case just to get me disqualified and jailed, this current assortment of incompetent crooks have again shot themselves in the foot. 

"They have provided me with an opportunity to do a proper expose of this whole Cypher drama. Tomorrow I will share the uncensored details of how this conspiracy unfolded to overthrow a govt, which had the best economic performance in the last 17 years and bring these money launderers and crooks into power who have run the country to the ground. I assure you it will be more gripping than any drama on tv." 

In April 2022 when Imran Khan’s government was ousted, he led a countrywide campaign with an anti-establishment narrative, accusing them of becoming party with the US and implementing Washington’s regime change narrative. 

Imran Khan based his narrative on the cipher, in which, he stated that Washington wanted to ensure that his government was removed. 

Imran Khan’s regime change and anti-establishment narrative spread like wildfire across the country as he gathered massive public support of the masses.  

However, he later retracted from his early claim of a US-led regime change conspiracy and stated that he later found out that US had no role to play in it.

He added that it was a game plan plotted and executed by Pakistan’s military establishment and the government.