Cipher was never declassified, says FIA probe

ISLAMABAD: The much-discussed 7th March 2022 cipher, received by the Foreign Ministry from the-then Pakistani ambassador to the US, was never declassified, sources said.

The PTI and its legal team claim that the cipher was declassified. However, sources in the FIA, which had probed the cipher case and gone through the cabinet meetings record, said the cipher was never declassified.

It has been disclosed that the question of declassification of the cipher was discussed in a few meetings during the dying days of the Imran Khan government, but it was never allowed. These cabinet meetings were held after Imran Khan had already waved the copy of cipher in a public rally.

It is learnt that the Foreign Ministry had strongly opposed the idea of declassifying the cipher. The matter was also referred to the Law Ministry which, the sources said, also opposed the proposal for declassification of the secret cable. Later, the cabinet, however, only approved the proposal of providing a copy of the cipher to the President, Chief Justice of Pakistan, Speaker National Assembly and Chairman Senate.

The proposal for declassification of the cipher was first discussed in the cabinet meeting on March 30, 2022 -- three days after the-then prime minister Imran Khan had waved the cipher copy in a public rally that he had addressed in Islamabad. The 30th March cabinet meeting decided against the declassification of the cipher.

A day later, the Imran Khan cabinet had again met and held an in-camera meeting to discuss the same proposal but only approved to provide the copy of the secret cable to four top functionaries.

The PTI and its legal team, however, insist that the cipher had been declassified by the entire cabinet and the information contained in the communication could no longer be dubbed a secret; therefore, there was no justification to hold the in-camera trial of PTI chairman in this, what they term, fake and fabricated case.

Shah Khawar, senior lawyer and head of the prosecution team in the cipher case, when approached, also said that the cipher was never declassified and there is no such cabinet decision. Foreign Office spokesperson when approached said that the FO would not comment on the issue because it is a sub judice matter.

Azam Khan, the-then principal secretary to PM Imran Khan, in his statement said that in a meeting before the Islamabad rally, the PTI chairman had said that he wanted to twist the cipher and would display it in front of the public in a way to convey an alleged foreign conspiracy being hatched against him in collision with local partners and would use the victim card.

Azam Khan said that he advised the PM that cipher was a decoded secret document and its contents could neither be disclosed nor be discussed in public.