- Pakistani ambassador, in his statement to court, declares cypher issue was a ‘setback’ for Pakistan-US relations
ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan ambassador to the United States Asad Majeed on Tuesday recorded his statement in Cypher Case in the special court, testifying that there was no mention of any “threat” or “conspiracy” in the secret cypher telegram.
Special Judge Abual Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain presided over the proceedings inside the Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail against former prime minister Imran Khan and PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi. They are accused of manipulating the cypher for political gains in March 2022, ahead of a no-confidence motion that toppled Imran Khan-led PTI government in the centre.
The court recorded testimonies of six more prosecution witnesses including Majeed in the cypher case.
In his testimony, Majeed recalled that on March 7, 2022, US diplomat Donald Lu was invited to a luncheon hosted at the Pakistan House in Washington.
He said that both sides were aware that the minutes of the meeting were being recorded, adding that he reported the conversation in cypher telegram to Islamabad. However, he added that there was no mention of any “threat” or “conspiracy.”
Majeed mentioned being summoned to the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting, where a decision to issue demarche to the United States was made after his proposal. He also said the cypher issue was a “setback” for Pakistan-US relations.
A day earlier, former foreign secretary Sohail Mahmood also recorded his statement, saying that he retired as the foreign secretary in September 2022. Till that time, the Prime Minister’s Office had not returned the cypher copy to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he said.
Earlier, Azam Khan, the former principal secretary of the ex-PM had also told the court that the copy of the cypher had been misplaced by Imran.
In his testimony given in the court on January 18, Azam Khan had claimed that Imran Khan directed his military secretary and personal staff “a number of times” to search for the cypher, but then he waved a piece of paper in the public rally on March 27 “implying” that it was the diplomatic cypher.
Referring to the incident, the former bureaucrat had, however, clarified that “as he [Imran Khan] did not open or read it [in the rally], therefore, I do not know what the paper was.”
