Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan and his foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were sentenced to ten years in jail by a special court in the cipher case Tuesday, a development that comes just ahead of the 8 February general election, with media reports suggesting that the country’s poll body may now ban Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
The PTI was contesting without an electoral symbol, after a crackdown by the state on the party.
Apart from this case, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in August 2022 also found that the PTI received ‘illegal funding’ from foreign sources, including 34 foreign nationals and 351 foreign-based companies in violation of Pakistani laws.
However, at the time no steps were taken to ban the PTI, but according to reports Sunday, there was now a higher probability for that as Khan and other top party members have been convicted in the cipher case and face a potential conviction in the case pertaining to the 9 May violence.
Also read: Imran Khan party asks election commission to suspend Sindh Governor
What is the cipher case?
The cipher case refers to a classified diplomatic document that Imran Khan publicly flaunted during a rally on 27 March 2022, which Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) alleged was never returned by Khan.
The cipher in question, the PTI held, had proof that the United States of America was behind the ouster of the Imran Khan-led government in Pakistan.
The purported cipher contained details of a meeting between US State Department officials, including Donald Lu, the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs and Pakistani envoy Asad Majeed Khan – wherein the US, apparently objected to Khan’s foreign policy towards the war in Ukraine, according to a report by Dawn.
The cipher published on the news website The Intercept in August 2023, stated that Lu informed the Pakistani envoy that “all will be forgiven” by the US if the no-confidence motion against Khan at the time would succeed.
ThePrint has not independently verified the cipher published by The Intercept.
A special court was established in August 2023 under the Official Secrets Act to hear the cipher case against the two former government officials, which gave its verdict Tuesday.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: Pakistan: Court to indict Fawad Chaudhry in fraud case on February 10