Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur said Friday that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) stance on “cipher conspiracy” remained unchanged, and former envoy to the United States (US) Asad Majeed should be questioned after United States Assistant Secretary Of State Donald Lu’s recent testimony before a Congressional panel.
As ciphergate issue remerges the firebrand PTI leader insisted that the party's stance remained unchanged regarding the diplomatic cable as it was a “conspiracy”, and foreign “intervention” in Pakistan’s internal affairs.
"Cipher was a conspiracy [...] our stance is still the same," the KP chief minister said while speaking to reporters outside a court on Friday.
Pointing towards former Pakistani envoy to the US, Gandapur added that Asad Majeed had confirmed the veracity of Lu’s statement regarding the cipher, and the former should be questioned about the exact source of cipher if no meeting was held.
The chief minister also questioned why PTI founder Imran Khan was sentenced if cipher did not exist as per Lu’s testimony.
He said that his party would not accept any kind of foreign intervention in the country at any cost.
Gandapur in his latest jibe at the incumbent government said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reached parliament through 'flawed' Form 47, once again alleging that "worst rigging in history" took place in the recent elections.
"The incumbent government in the Centre has been formed after stealing PTI’s 180 seats," he added.
He went on to say that it would be useless to talk to PM Shehbaz Sharif as the latter was himself got elected on the basis of Form 47 results, as he criticised the 2024 general elections.
The KP CM further stated that the incumbent government could not deliver due to lack of support from the nationals. To a question, Gandapur replied that the PTI founder will never accept any deal with the current rulers.
To another question, he said that they were resolving public issues in KP. He added that the Centre has to pay due funds of KP province.
It is noteworthy that some political parties, including the Imran-founded party, have been alleging that the returning officers (ROs) manipulated the 2024 election results as they did not follow records of Form 45 prepared by presiding officers (POs) at the polling stations, and released entirely different results in Form 47.
Gandapur made the above stated remarks after appearing before different courts to seek relief in different cases. The chief minister along with his lawyers attended a hearing at an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad and filed a pre-arrest bail petition in a case related to vandalism at judicial complex in the federal capital
The ATC approved CM Gandapur’s pre-arrest bail plea and ordered him to submit Rs50,000 surety bonds.
During the hearing, Gandapur’s counsel said that the politician was nominated in the First Information Report (FIR) but he has no connection with the judicial complex’s vandalism incident as he was not present there.
The defence lawyer Raja Zahoorul Hassan told the court that 50 FIRs were filed against the politician but he was forcefully stopped from reaching the courtrooms.
Later, Gandapur headed to Islamabad kachehri for suspension of arrest warrants issued by a civil judge and a judicial magistrate in separate cases registered at Bani Gala Police Station and Golra Police Station.
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