Pakistan News: Once again the cipher controversy has arisen in the politics of Pakistan. The cipher issue is related to a claim made by Khan after he was ousted from power last year. He claimed he was ousted as part of a US conspiracy and cited a diplomatic cable to defeat his opponents.
Pakistan
Pakistan Politics: Pakistan‘s Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar said on Thursday that if found guilty of endangering national security by exposing diplomatic information, former Prime Minister Imran Khan could be sentenced to life imprisonment. Khan used a communication sent by the Pakistan embassy in Washington in March last year to accuse the US of ousting him from power a month later. Addressing a press conference, Law Minister Tarar said the minimum punishment for leaking official secrets is two years.
Let us tell you that once again the cipher controversy has arisen in the politics of Pakistan. The cipher issue is related to a claim made by Khan after he was ousted from power last year. He claimed he was ousted as part of a US conspiracy and cited a diplomatic cable to defeat his opponents.
- Why the controversy resurfaced?
The controversy resurfaced when Khan’s principal secretary Azam Khan, who had been missing since last month, suddenly surfaced and recorded a statement before a magistrate that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief had asked him to use secret communications for political purposes.
In his statement, Azam Khan had confessed that the PTI chief had allegedly told him that the “cypher could be used by the opposition to divert the attention of the general public towards foreign involvement in the NCM [no-confidence motion]”. Let us tell you that last year Imran Khan was ousted from power through a vote of no confidence.
- Home Minister gave this reaction
Reacting to Azam Khan’s confession, Home Minister Sanaullah said that Khan had committed a crime for which he should be “punished at all costs”. “To make public a classified document or a piece of information and then take possession of it – no one is legally entitled to have it (the cipher) in their possession,” he said.