RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder maintained a copy of the controversial cipher and then claimed it had vanished, according to Azam Khan, the former principal secretary to the then-prime minister Imran Khan, who testified before a court on Thursday.
Azam stood before a special court in Rawalpindi to record his statement in the cipher case. He did so by laying his palm on the Holy Quran and kissed it. The case was heard in Adiala Jail by Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain.
In the Adiala Jail cipher case, five witnesses testified in court: Anis-ur-Rehman, Javed Iqbal, Hadayat Ullah Muhammad Ashfaq, and Azam. The hearing was postponed by the court until January 22.
The cipher copy was given to the then-prime minister by the former principal secretary, who claimed to have received it from his staff in March 2022. He claimed that the prime minister kept a copy of the cipher and then claimed that it had vanished.
According to Azam, the foreign ministry had the master copy of the cipher, and its contents were read out at a meeting that took place at Bani Gala. Presenting the cipher to the federal cabinet was the next decision made. To decide on the proper response to the US, the cabinet submitted the topic to the National Security Committee. It was decided at the National Security Committee meeting to denounce the offending nation for meddling in Pakistan’s internal affairs.In addition, he claimed that his term did not follow the custom of giving the cipher copy back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He claimed to have repeatedly notified Imran, his military secretary, and pertinent personnel that the cipher copy had not been returned. After that, he said, the subject was to be handled by the staff, ADC, and military secretary.
