ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Monday approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) against the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) inquiry into the audio leaks related to the US cypher.
The former PM’s counsel requested the LHC to declare the probe into the audio leaks as illegal and made the FIA, federal government and the investigating officer respondents in the petition.
The petition stated that Imran Khan is the former prime minister of the country and “an honest, honourable and a prominent citizen of the country”.
The inquiry was initiated against the former PM to tarnish his image as “Imran Khan’s growing popularity has become a threat to political powers”, read the petition.
It further stated that the FIA has summoned the former premier on December 6 to record his statement while the inquiry into the audio leaks had already been challenged in the Supreme Court.
The former PM maintained in the petition that he was summoned by the FIA in connection with the inquiry for “political victimisation” and cited failed assassination attempt on him as example of “political vendetta” being pursued against him.
The petition prayed the court to declare the inquiry as illegal and issue a stay order till the final decision is announced on the application.
In October this year, the federal cabinet gave its go-ahead to initiating legal action against former premier Imran Khan, his key cabinet ministers and his principal secretary Azam Khan in connection with the audio leaks where the former rulers discussed how to “play on cypher”.
The approval came on the recommendation of a committee which was formed by the cabinet to deliberate and recommend actions regarding the conversation “available on the internet regarding the Cipher Message received from Parep Washington (Cypher No. I-0678 dated 7th March 2022) (Annex-I)”.
Subsequently, the committee recommended that “it is a matter of national security, which is/was pre-judicial to national interest and needs legal action”. Therefore, it added, “the apex investigation agency (FIA) may be directed to inquire into the matter by constituting a team of senior officers, which may co-opt officers/officials from other intelligence agencies for the purpose, and to proceed further against the perpetrators in accordance with the law”.
Following the recommendations, the cabinet gave its nod to the investigation and legal action against Imran, Azam Khan, and the relevant former ministers through the Federal Investigation Agency.
