The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday grilled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan for nearly two hours in a case related to cablegate saga – a cipher that allegedly contains details of a threat made by the United States against the previous government, a private TV channel reported.
As per media reports, the PTI chief appeared before the joint investigation team of the federal probe authorities at its headquarters. After nearly a two-hour-long interrogation, the deposed premier left the FIA headquarters.
A day earlier, the FIA interrogated PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi for nearly two hours in connection with its ongoing probe into the controversial US cipher.
Qureshi appeared before an eight-member team headed by FIA Islamabad Zone Director Rana Abdul Jabbar after it had summoned him – as he is one of the central characters in the cipher saga due to his position as the foreign minister during PTI’s tenure.
Officers from different FIA wings and one grade-19 officer each from three different intelligence institutions were also present during the PTI vice chairman’s interrogation.
The cipher drama took a new turn last week when former premier Khan’s then-principal secretary Azam Khan “recorded” a statement, terming the US cipher a “conspiracy” used by the ex-PM to “manipulate for creating a narrative against establishment and opposition. Azam, who had been “missing” since last month, recorded his statement under CrPC 164 before a magistrate, sources said. In response to the development, Imran termed Azam an “honest man” and said he would not accept the statement until he heard the bureaucrat say it himself.
The PTI, however, termed the statement attributed to the ex-principal secretary, on the US cipher conspiracy “unverified”, and said it was a “set of contradictions”.
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