Daily Times

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday was arrested from his residence in Islamabad in connection with an investigation into cipher which PTI alleges contained the threat from the United States to oust Imran Khan from power, Caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti told a private TV channel, adding that Qureshi was taken into custody by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) after he was nominated in the cipher case.

The first information report (FIR) registered against Qureshi by the FIA refers to the matter and invokes Sections 5 (wrongful communication of information) and 9 (attempt to commit or abet the commission of an offence under this Secrets Act) of the Official Secrets Act read with Section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The FIR has been registered on the complaint of Ministry of Interior Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar.

According to the FIR, on March 7, 2022, the then-foreign secretary received a cipher dispatched from Washington. It said that a conclusion of a case registered with the FIA’s counter terrorism department on Oct 5, 2022 transpired that former prime minister Imran Khan, ex-foreign minister Qureshi and their other associates “are involved in the communication of information contained in [the] secret classified document … to unauthorised persons (ie public at large)”. The cipher, which US-based news website Intercept recently claimed to have obtained and published, was waved by former PM Imran at a public gathering days before his ouster from the top office as proof of a conspiracy to remove his government.

The FIR registered by the FIA accused Imran, Qureshi and their associates of sharing the information contained in the cipher “by twisting the facts to achieve their ulterior motives and personal gains in a manner prejudicial to the interests of state security”.

“They held a clandestine meeting at [Imran’s] Bani Gala [residence] on March 28, 2022 to conspire to misuse the contents of the cipher in order to accomplish their nefarious designs. “The accused Imran Khan […] with malafide intention directed his then principal secretary Muhammad Azam Khan to prepare minutes (record notes) of the said clandestine meeting by manipulating the context of the cipher message to use it for his vested interest at the cost of national safety.” The FIR further alleged that the numbered and accountable copy of the cipher sent to the PM’s Office was “deliberately” kept by then-premier Imran with “malafide intention” and was never returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The said cipher (an official secret document classified as such) is still in the illegal possession/ retention of the accused Imran Khan. The unauthorised retention and misuse of the cipher telegram by the accused persons compromised the entire cypher security system of the state and secret communication method of Pakistani missions abroad,” it said. The FIR added: “These actions by the accused persons directly/ indirectly benefitted the interest of foreign powers and caused loss to the state of Pakistan. “The competent authority has granted approval for the registration of the case. Therefore, at police station CTW FIA , Islamabad, prima facie, a case under Section 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act read with Section 34 of the PPC is registered against former PM Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi for wrongful communication/ use of official secret information and illegal retention of the cipher telegram (official secret document) with malafide intention, whereas as role of SPM Azam Khan, former federal minister Asad Umar and other associates involved will be ascertained during the course of investigations.”

The arrest came shortly after Qureshi addressed a presser wherein he dispelled the reports of infighting between party leaders to replace incarcerated party chief Imran Khan. Before the FIR against Qureshi surfaced, several PTI leaders maintained that his arrest was linked to the press conference, where Qureshi also refuted reports of rifts within the PTI and announced that the party would be moving the Supreme Court (SC) against the delay in general elections. When asked whether Qureshi’s detention was linked to a press conference he held right before his arrest and where he confirmed that he had held meetings with foreign envoys in recent days, Interior Minister Bugti replied in the negative.

In a statement, the PTI spokesperson condemned the “illegal and unjustified” arrest of Qureshi, terming it the “worst example” of misuse of the law. The party spokesperson said the caretaker government is carrying forward the agenda of “lawlessness and fascism” of the previous Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government. “There is no justification for the arrest of Shah Mahmood Qureshi under the guise of investigating the secret diplomatic cable,” the spokesperson said, adding that the party leader was “fully cooperating” with FIA’s team. The statement further said Qureshi’s real crime was expressing unequivocal confidence in the leadership of PTI chief Imran Khan and added that all “nefarious” attempts to halt the party’s decision-making process will be thwarted. It said the PTI will continue running party affairs under the mechanism approved by the incarcerated party chief. “Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will prepare a legal action plan for the immediate release of Shah Mahmood Qureshi,” the spokesperson added.