ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s principal secretary Azam Khan has claimed that the ex-premier had “pre-planned” the US cypher drama, Geo News reported Wednesday
Azam, who has been “missing” since last month, has recorded his statement under CrPC 164 before a magistrate, the sources added, with no information on his whereabouts.
Khan, ousted via a parliamentary vote in April last year, had alleged on March 27, 2022, that Washington orchestrated the movement to remove him from office — and brandished the cypher to back his claims.
In his confession, Azam said when he provided Imran with the cypher, he was “euphoric” and termed the language as a “US blunder”.
The ex-prime minister then said, according to Azam, that the cable could be used for “creating a narrative against establishment and opposition”.
The confession mentions that Khan also told Azam that the cypher could be used to divert the public’s attention towards “foreign involvement” in the opposition’s no-confidence motion.
Azam’s confession mentions that Imran told him he would display the cypher in front of the public and “twist the narrative: a foreign conspiracy is being hatched in collusion with local partners and play [the] victim card”.
When Azam, according to the confession, told Imran Khan that the cypher was a secret document and its content could not be disclosed before the public, the then-premier suggested a strategy.
He said that Imran called a meeting — which included then-foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and then-foreign secretary Sohail Mahmood — who would then tell him the minutes of the meeting as the PTI chief had lost the original copy of the cable.
The confession mentioned that the then-premier decided to call special meetings of the cabinet and the National Security Division to discuss the cypher and note down the minutes of the meetings.
However, he mentioned that till the time he was Imran’s principal secretary, the cypher was not returned to the Prime Minister’s Office as Imran had lost the original document.
