Jailed former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a special court on Tuesday for leaking state secrets, has reportedly stated that he had only waved a "piece of paper" during his party rally to expose a conspiracy against his government.
"The plan was to give (General Qamar Javed) Bajwa - retired army chief - the message that the entire plan will be exposed if the government is conspired against," Khan was quoted as saying in the statement he submitted to the court by the Express Tribune newspaper.
The 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician also said the responsibility of protecting the cipher (secret diplomatic communication) was not his. "One of my ADCs (Aide-de-Camp) stole the cypher on Bajwa's directives," he said, adding that he was never in possession of the actual cypher.
"The responsibility for the PMO's security rested with the military secretary, principal secretary and secretary protocol during my three-and-a-half years," he said.
During the trial, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf founder submitted a mandatory statement in the special court, stating that he only waved a paper during the rally to merely express his fear of a conspiracy without naming any country, the report said.
The cipher controversy first emerged on March 27, 2022, when Khan - less than a month before his ouster in April 2022 - while addressing a public rally waved a letter before the crowd, claiming that it was a cipher from a foreign nation that had conspired with his political rivals to have his government overthrown.
Khan did not reveal the contents of the letter nor did he mention the name of the nation it came from. But a few days later, he accused the US of conspiring against him and alleged that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had sought his removal.
The cipher was about former Pakistan ambassador to the US Asad Majeed's meeting with Lu.
The case was filed against Khan and Qureshi on August 15 last year by the Federal Investigation Agency, which accused both of violating the secrecy laws while handling the cable sent by the Pakistan embassy in Washington in March 2022.
The verdict comes nine days before the February 8 general elections, which the PTI is contesting amid a state crackdown and without an electoral symbol.
In his statement, Khan said: "This is the only document that has gone missing from the Prime Minister's Office. If the cipher is missing then the military secretary should be asked to conduct an inquiry." The former premier said that this was the only time when he even got angry with the military secretary. "One of my ADCs stole the cypher on Gen Bajwa's order," Khan repeated his allegations.
He also said his government was toppled due to a conspiracy. "General Bajwa and US Secretary of State Donald Lu were involved in the conspiracy".
"The conspiracy to overthrow my government took place in October 2021 when General Bajwa replaced ISI chief Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed," the PTI founder stated.
Khan said that "all this happened with the connivance of Gen Bajwa, [PML-N leaders] Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif, because they promised Gen Bajwa to extend his tenure".
"[Former ambassador to the US] Hussain Haqqani was hired to lobby in the US on behalf of Gen Bajwa, for which the former was paid $35,000. In April, Hussain Haqqani tweeted that Imran Khan was anti-US while Gen Bajwa was pro-US," the former premier maintained in his statement.
Khan claimed that the former army chief used the ISI to convince the PTI's political allies to withdraw their support for the government and also forced party members to leave, insisting that their "future lay with the PML-N".
"I asked Gen Bajwa regarding the conspiracy when I met him, but he claimed nothing of the sort was taking place. Despite several meetings with him, the ISI kept working against my government.
"During the first week of March, I had an official trip to Russia and the foreign ministry agreed with the visit. Before leaving for Russia, I also talked with Gen Bajwa and he too agreed that I should undertake the visit. A few days after I returned, Shah Mahmood Qureshi informed me that Asad Majeed had sent a cypher message from Washington." "It was a shocking cipher which was not meant for the prime minister or foreign minister to see. Qureshi then called Asad Majeed (ambassador to US) for information regarding the cypher and I was left surprised after reading it," Khan said.
He said there was no precedent for a diplomat being threatened by the US officials during a meeting. "They threatened that if the prime minister is not removed, there would be consequences." "Asad Majeed informed Donald Lu that all stakeholders had agreed on the official visit to Russia. Asad Majeed recommended issuing a demarche to the US, while our allies were sending us messages that they were being pressurised by the ISI to leave the alliance." Khan claimed that the US Embassy in Pakistan was also active. "They were calling people to the embassy and during this time, several meetings were also held with Gen Bajwa. They were told that if the government is ousted the economy would be destroyed, and the economic plan of Shehbaz Sharif will not be able to stabilise the economy." He further claimed that the "cypher sent by Donald Lu was addressed to Gen Bajwa as he had the power to topple the government".
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
