FO denies ‘cipher’ was hidden from former FM, PM

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Tuesday rejected the claim that the cipher communication received from the embassy in Washington was ‘hidden’ from the foreign minister or prime minister and termed it as entirely baseless. “Such a question simply does not arise. 

The Foreign Office operates on professional basis and it would be detrimental to cast aspersions on its working,” said the spokesman.

While the spokesman did not mention the PTI in its statement, he was asked by the media about the allegation made by a senior member of the party. It was Imran Khan’s Chief of Staff Shehbaz Gill who on Tuesday, while speaking to the media outside the court, claimed that the cipher, sent by Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States to the Foreign Office, was hidden by powerful quarters, from former prime minister Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

However, he did not explain who these powerful quarters were. At the time the Foreign Office had said that as is the norm, a copy of such sensitive ciphers are sent to the prime minister, COAS and ISI DG.

Earlier, at a press conference, the ISPR DG to a question had agreed and responding to a query said, “Ciphers are top-secret documents sent to the Foreign Office by Pakistani ambassadors from across the world. We also receive some of these ciphers at the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence that is considered to be related to national security.”

In this regard, he added that ciphers come under the domain of the Foreign Office and only those related to national security were shared with the military.