'Cipher case' aimed at protecting ex-army chief, US diplomat, alleges Pakistan's former premier

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan's jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the case that accuses him of exposing state secrets is aimed at protecting the ex-army chief and a US diplomat.

“As far as the Cipher case is concerned, this bogus case is designed to protect former Army Chief Gen. (Qamar Javed) Bajwa and (US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs) Donald Lu,” Khan said in a purported message to "the people of Pakistan" through his family that met him in jail earlier this week.

The message was posted on Thursday on his X account, which presumably is being operated by his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party's media wing.

Khan is currently languishing in Adiala jail in the northeastern garrison city of Rawalpindi on a judicial remand in the cipher case.

The case is related to diplomatic communications between Washington and Islamabad, which Khan says was part of a US conspiracy to topple his government. The alleged threat, according to Khan, was delivered by Lu to the then-Pakistani ambassador to Washington last year.

Washington and Islamabad have repeatedly rebuffed the accusation.

"I was the elected Prime Minister of the country. Treason was committed against me and my government by Gen. Bajwa," he went on to charge.

The Islamabad High Court has already issued notices to Bajwa and his intelligence chief Faiz Hamid along with two journalists for allegedly flouting the Official Secrets Act during interviews with the media.

"Instead of investigating the foreign conspiracy in orchestrating a regime change, a case has been filed against me for informing the people of Pakistan, the real protectors of this country," he further said.

Regardless of jail conditions, he added, he will not "back down even an inch from the quest of Haqeeqi Azadi (real freedom), for the upholding of the rule of law and the Constitution of Pakistan, at the core of which is free and fair elections."

He predicted that "on whatever day" the election is held, the people of Pakistan will come out "in huge numbers" to vote for his party.

The national vote is slated to be held in the last week of January, though a specific date is yet to be announced.

Khan, 70, was sentenced by a trial court in Islamabad on Aug. 6 for concealing details and unlawfully selling state gifts he received during his nearly four-year stint as the prime minister from 2018-2022. Consequently, he was barred from holding public office for five years by the country’s election commission.

Later, his sentence was suspended by the Islamabad High Court.

The cricketer-turned-politician, who is facing a string of cases, was ousted through a no-trust vote in April 2022.