Pakistan’s interior minister accuses Imran Khan of exposing official secrets for political gain

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s interior minister on Wednesday accused former Prime Minister Imran Khan of “exposing a secret official document” last year to falsely claim he was ousted from power in a Washington plot.

The government plans to file criminal charges against Khan over the action, Home Minister Rana Sanaullah told reporters in Islamabad, alleging that the former prime minister’s abuse of a secret official document had damaged Pakistan’s foreign relations.

The development is the latest in a tug-of-war between Khan, who was ousted from power in a vote of no confidence in parliament in April last year, and the administration of his successor, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Khan has been slapped with more than 150 legal cases, including several on charges of corruption, “terrorism” and incitement to violence over deadly protests in May in which his supporters attacked government and military properties across the country.

Violence erupted after his arrest in connection with a corruption case and the unrest subsided only after Khan was released on the order of Pakistan’s Supreme Court. Khan has been granted bail in many cases, but he has repeatedly been forced to appear in court to seek protection from arrest, a common step under Pakistani law.

Sanaullah, the interior minister, was referring on Wednesday to an incident following Khan’s ouster, when the former cricket star turned Islamist politician addressed a gathering of supporters.

At the meeting, Khan waved the document in question, describing it as “proof” that he was threatened and claiming that his expulsion was a conspiracy between his opponents and the United States. Pakistan’s military, Washington and Sharif’s government have all denied any conspiracy against Khan.

The document Khan waved was apparently a diplomatic correspondence between Asad Majeed, Pakistan’s then ambassador to the United States, and the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad, according to Azam Khan, Imran Khan’s former secretary and one of many of his supporters who deserted him after the May violence.

The content of the document, dubbed Cipher, has not been made public. Azam Khan, in a statement to the court on Wednesday, said the document was about Imran Khan’s visit to Moscow, which coincided with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2021.

He also said the former prime minister had “tampered with the official secret document” despite being advised not to. When Azam Khan later asked for the document to be returned to him, he said he was told it was lost.

Sanaullah said the government would have to get the Cipher back from the former prime minister because it believes Imran Khan still has it.

“It is a crime to reveal official secrets,” Sanaullah said.

Khan dismissed the government’s planned charges as another of his “feverish attempts to implicate me in any case only to get me disqualified and jailed” and said 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 that it will be more exciting than any drama on television.”

Later Wednesday, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency summoned Khan to appear in person before its investigators on July 25 to explain its allegations that he was ousted due to a conspiracy.

The notice asked him to bring documents to support his claims and warned that failure to respond could lead to legal action. In the past, Khan had failed to comply with two similar notices to appear with the agency.

Separately on Wednesday, Khan appeared before a court in Islamabad, which has extended his bail for terrorism-related cases until July 26.

On Monday, dozens of Khan’s supporters quit his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party to launch their own before parliamentary elections. choiceIt is expected by the end of this year. The defections were a huge “political rebellion” against Khan before the vote.