Islamabad [Pakistan], August 12 : The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing Imran Khan's case was prompted to expand its investigation after an online American news organisation published an alleged content of the secret cable document, reported the Geo News on Friday.
Geo News is a Pakistani news channel owned by the Jang Media Group.
As per the Geo News, the team is scrutinizing how and who leaked the document's content to the media and whether the content of the cipher.
Informed sources said the JIT is keen to see how and who has leaked the document’s content to the media and whether the content of the cipher, as shared by The Intercept, is original or exaggerated, reported the News International.
The probe would conclude within a week or 10 days and the investigation so far makes a case against the former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan.
This has been reported in the publication by the Geo news, in an offense by the former prime minister, he retained the cipher copy. Twisting and manipulation of the secret document for political gain is also a violation of the law.
According to Geo News, the JIT team constituted by the outgoing government of Shehbaz Sharif has already interviewed Imran Khan, Fawad Chaudhry, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, and Foreign Office officials.
The most critical part of the JIT probe pertains to the statement of Azam Khan, ex-principal secretary to the former prime minister, who had told the FIA and also stated before a magistrate that the former PM had used the US cipher for his ‘political gains’ and to avert no-confidence motion against him.
The former bureaucrat, in his confession, said when he provided the ex-premier with the cipher, he was “euphoric” and termed the language a “US blunder”. The former prime minister, according to Azam, then said that the cable could be used for “creating a narrative against establishment and opposition”.
Azam Khan said the US cipher was used in political gatherings by the PTI chairman, despite his advice to him to avoid such acts. Azam Khan said that the former prime minister also told him that the cipher could be used to divert the public’s attention towards “foreign involvement” in the opposition’s no-confidence motion.
Imran Khan appeared before the JIT last month. He was called again on August 1 to appear before the probe team in the FIA but the PTI chairman avoided joining further probe into the matter.
Former interior minister Rana Sanaullah termed Azam Khan’s statement his “confession” and a charge sheet against Imran Khan. The former interior minister had said that although Imran Khan had told Azam Khan that he lost the cipher, Sanaullah believed that the secret document was still with the PTI chairman.
The interior minister of the Shehbaz government was of the view that Imran Khan should be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act for exposing a secret document and using it for his own political interests to damage the country’s interests and stealing it and taking it into his own possession, reported the Geo news.
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