ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s inside minister on Wednesday accused former Prime Minister Imran Khan of “exposing an official secret document” final 12 months to falsely declare he was ousted from energy in a plot by Washington.
The authorities plans to deliver felony expenses towards Khan over the motion, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah informed reporters in Islamabad, alleging that the previous premier’s abuse of an official secret doc had harmed Pakistan’s overseas relations.
The improvement is the most recent in a tug of battle between Khan, who was ousted from energy in a no-confidence vote within the parliament in April final 12 months, and the administration of his successor, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Khan has been slapped with greater than 150 authorized circumstances, together with a number of on expenses of corruption, “terrorism” and inciting individuals to violence over lethal protests in May that noticed his followers assault authorities and navy property throughout the nation.
The violence erupted after his arrest in reference to a graft case and the rioting subsided solely after Khan was launched on an order from Pakistan’s Supreme Court. Khan has been granted bail in lots of circumstances, however has been pressured to repeatedly seem in courts to hunt safety from arrest, a standard step beneath Pakistani legislation.
Sanaullah, the inside minister, was referring Wednesday to an incident after Khan‘s ouster, when the previous cricket star turned Islamist politician addressed a gathering of supporters.
At the gathering, Khan waved the doc in query, describing it as “proof” that he was threatened and claiming that his ouster was a conspiracy between his opponents and the United States. Pakistan’s navy, Washington and Sharif’s authorities have all denied any conspiracies towards Khan.
The doc that Khan waved was apparently a diplomatic correspondence between Asad Majeed, Pakistan’s then-ambassador to the United States, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad, in accordance with Azam Khan, a former secretary to Imran Khan and one in every of scores of his followers who’ve deserted him within the wake of the May violence.
The content material of the doc, dubbed Cipher, has not been made public. Azam Khan, in an announcement to court docket earlier on Wednesday mentioned the doc was about Imran Khan’s go to to Moscow, which coincided with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2021.
He additionally mentioned the previous premier had “manipulated the official secret document” regardless of being suggested to not do it. When Azam Khan later requested for the doc again, he mentioned he was informed it was misplaced.
Sanaullah mentioned the federal government must get better the Cipher from the previous premier as he believes Imran Khan nonetheless has it.
“It’s a crime to reveal official secrets,” mentioned Sanaullah.
Khan later Wednesday dismissed the federal government’s deliberate expenses as one other one in every of its “feverish attempts to implicate me in any case just to get me disqualified and jailed” and mentioned he would expose “the whole Cypher drama” on Thursday.
“I will share the uncensored details of how this conspiracy unfolded,” he tweeted. “I assure you it will be more gripping than any drama on tv.”
Separately on Wednesday, Khan appeared earlier than a court docket in Islamabad, which prolonged his bail terrorism-related circumstances till July 26.
On Monday, dozens of Khan‘s followers stop his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf get together to launch their very own forward of parliamentary elections anticipated later this 12 months. The defections have been a serious “political rebellion” towards Khan forward of the vote.
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