ISLAMABAD
\nRejecting a challan submitted by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday demanded the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the cipher case. In a statement issued Saturday, the PTI spokesperson said that the challan submitted against party chairman Imran Khan and vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi was \u2018meaningless and bogus as cipher case\u201d.
\nMoreover, the spokesperson maintained, the cipher was still present in its original state in the Foreign Office. \u201cCipher\u2019s presence proves the allegations levelled against the former prime minister [Imran Khan] as baseless,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cThe then federal cabinet declassified the cipher under its powers\u201d, the spokesman noted, claiming that Official Secrets Act cannot be applied in this case. The spokesperson further said that PTI chief had repeatedly demanded an independent and impartial investigation into cipher case. \u201cHe also penned down letters to chief justice and President of Pakistan, but to no avail.\u201d
\nThe spokesperson concluded by saying that a judicial commission should be formed to investigate the cipher to meet the demands of justice.
\nEarlier in the day, the FIA submitted challan of the cipher case in a special court constituted under the official secrets act. PTI chairman and Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi were indicted in the challan. The FIA pleaded to the court for trial and conviction of the Chairman PTI and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
\nSources said that former minister and PTI leader Asad Umar has not been named in the list of the accused.
\nFormer principal secretary to the PM Azam Khan has become a strong witness in the FIA\u2019s case. His statement under 161 and 164 has also been annexed with the challan, according to sources. The first information report (FIR) was registered on August 15 under the Official Secrets Act. It was registered on the complaint of the Home Secretary.
\nFormer prime minister Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were nominated in the report, while names of former principal secretary Azam Khan and former planning minister Asad Umar were also mentioned. According to the report, action also will be taken against Azam Khan and Asad Umar after the authorities reached the conclusion that they were also involved in misusing the classified documents.
\nThe FIR stated that the former prime minister and foreign minister distorted the facts of the diplomatic cipher. \u201cA conspiracy was launched to misuse the contents of the cipher to fulfill nefarious purposes\u201d, it added. It further stated that former premier and top diplomat endangered the state interests.
\nThe report claimed that former prime minister asked Azam Khan \u2013 the then
\nprincipal secretary \u2013 to \u201cmanipulate the contents of cipher\u201d. \u201cThe
\nformer premier deliberately kept the copy of diplomatic cipher, which
\nwas sent to the PM office\u201d, it added. DNA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Rejecting a challan submitted by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday demanded the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the cipher case. In a statement issued Saturday, the PTI spokesperson said that the challan submitted against party chairman Imran Khan and vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi was \u2018meaningless and bogus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-359154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n