Vice Chairman PTI Shah Mahmood Qureshi arrested from Islamabad residence by FIA in cipher case

ISLAMABAD, August 19 (SABAH): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi on Saturday was arrested from his residence in Islamabad in connection with an investigation into cipher which PTI alleges contained the threat from the United States to oust Imran Khan from power.

Speaking to a private TV channel, Caretaker Interior Minister Senator Mir Sarfraz Ahmed Khan Bugti confirmed that Qureshi was taken into custody by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). The caretaker security czar said Qureshi was arrested as he was nominated in the cipher case.

The PTI has also confirmed that the party leader was arrested from his residence and is being moved to the FIA headquarters in the federal capital.

The arrest came shortly after Qureshi addressed a presser at the National Press Club Islamabad wherein he dispelled the reports of infighting between party leaders to replace incarcerated party chief Imran Khan.

The PTI has also confirmed that the party leader was arrested from his residence and moved to the FIA headquarters in the federal capital.

The FIA sources said the PTI leader has been arrested in light of the statement of party chief Imran Khan related to the cipher probe.

The development came only two days after PTI chief Imran Khan, who has been imprisoned in Attock Jail, following conviction in Toshakhana case named in a first information report (FIR) registered by the FIA under Section 5 of the Official Secrets Act 1923 in the cipher case.

The counter-terrorism wing of the FIA had registered the case against the former prime minister — who was ousted from office after a no-confidence motion in April last year — after ascertaining his deliberate involvement in misusing the classified document following a probe.

The government sources had also confirmed that the PTI chief has been booked under Section 5 of the recently-amended act. However, authorities displayed reluctance in sharing a copy of the FIR.

Earlier in July this year, the FIA grilled Qureshi and PTI leader Asad Umar for nearly two hours in connection with the probe into controversial US cipher.

Qureshi time and again has reiterated that the US cipher was reality, backing the party chief’s claims that the US engineered his ouster from power by supporting then opposition’s no-confidence motion in April last year.

The cipher case against the former premier became serious after his principal secretary Muhammad Azam Khan stated before a magistrate as well as the FIA that the former PM had used the US cipher for his ‘political gains’ and to avert a vote of no-confidence against him.

The former bureaucrat, in his confession, said when he provided the ex-premier with the cipher, he was “euphoric” and termed the language a “US blunder”. The former prime minister, according to Azam, then said that the cable could be used for “creating a narrative against establishment and opposition”.

Azam said the US cipher was used in political gatherings by the PTI chairman, despite his advice to him to avoid such acts. He mentioned that the former prime minister also told him that the cipher could be used to divert the public’s attention towards “foreign involvement” in the opposition’s no-confidence motion.

In a statement, the PTI spokesperson condemned the “illegal and unjustified” arrest of Qureshi, terming it the “worst example” of misuse of the law.

The party spokesperson said the caretaker government is carrying forward the agenda of “lawlessness and fascism” of the previous Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government.

“There is no justification for the arrest of Shah Mahmood Qureshi under the guise of investigating the secret diplomatic cable,” the spokesperson said, adding that the party leader was “fully cooperating” with FIA’s team.

The statement further said Qureshi’s real crime was expressing unequivocal confidence in the leadership of PTI chief Imran Khan and added that all “nefarious” attempts to halt the party’s decision-making process will be thwarted.

It said the PTI will continue running party affairs under the mechanism approved by the incarcerated party chief.

“Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will prepare a legal action plan for the immediate release of Shah Mahmood Qureshi,” the spokesperson added.

According to PTI General Secretary Omar Ayub Khan, Qureshi was taken into custody just as he reached home after addressing a press conference, during which he confirmed that he had met foreign ambassadors recently.

Ayub condemned Qureshi’s arrest, saying: “Had hoped that the reign of lawlessness would have ended after the exit of the fascist PDM government, but it appears that this caretaker government wants to break the records of their predecessor fascist government.”

Addressing a press conference at the National Press Club in Islamabad alongside other PTI leaders earlier on Saturday, Shah Mahmood Qureshi confirmed that he had a breakfast meeting with the Australian high commissioner in Islamabad, adding that other important ambassadors were present on the occasion as well.

He said the PTI presented its stance on the current political situation during the meeting and raised its concerns about the security situation.

“We had a good conversation, which was presented in the media as if it centred on Imran’s release,” he said, refuting reports of the PTI chief’s release of the matter of the diplomatic cipher being discussed in the meeting.

The PTI leaders also dismissed media reports of a further split within what’s left of the party’s top leadership.

A private TV channel report claimed that following the PTI chief’s August 5 arrest in the Toshakhana case, the party’s core committee saw another split as well as infighting, with both Vice Chairman Qureshi and Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan allegedly attempting to succeed Imran as the party chief.

Qureshi addressed the claim and remarked that “a media house had attempted to spread confusion.”

Lauding the party’s core committee and legal team for the conditions and difficult circumstances they were operating in, Qureshi said: “Such news [of further rifts] is concocted, a plan of disinformation and part of a scheme to create confusion in the party rank and file and to affect their minds. “There is no truth to this and it will break down in due time.”

Qureshi said the claim being made about him and Ayub trying to take over the party had “no truth to it”. He said Ayub had immediately responded to the allegation with a post on X, and “negated that confusion with great understanding”.

He also ridiculed any notion of a leadership struggle within the party, saying that Imran was still the chairman and the core committee had passed a resolution affirming the same.

Qureshi also addressed the matter of delay in general elections, adding that the party would move the Supreme Court and was in the process of finalising its petition.

He also called on other political parties such as the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam and PPP to present a clear stance on the issue.

Earlier on Saturday, the PTI had shared Ayub’s rejoinder to the “fabricated news” regarding its alleged internal divisions. Ayub said there were no groups in the party or its core committee.

“Decision-making is being done with consensus and very smoothly as per the framework made by Imran Khan himself,” he added, further saying that he held Qureshi in high regard and there had not been any argument during any committee meeting.

Separately, PTI leader Advocate Sher Afzal Khan Marwat claimed there were “traitors” present in the party’s core committee and Imran’s legal team, adding that they had put his own life in danger.

“They have passed on recordings of the core committee meetings to the opponents and even to media persons […] If I am allowed by the relevant persons in the party and if I survive the hunt, I will share the names of the traitors very soon,” he said in a post on X that he later deleted.

“I have been advised by the party leadership to delete the post and leave the matter of the compromised people to the PTI chairman for decision. I will delete the relevant post. Nonetheless, I had not named any individual and have thus no vicarious liability about speculations,” he said in a subsequent post.

Earlier, taking notice of his initial post, the PTI had said his claims would be fully investigated and that Marwat should have expressed his views within the party instead of taking to social media.

The controversy first emerged on March 27, 2022, when Imran Khan — just days before his ouster — brandished a letter, claiming that it was a cipher from a foreign nation, which mentioned that his government should be removed from power.

He did not reveal the contents of the letter nor mention the name of the nation that had sent it. But a few days later, he named the United States and said that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had sought his removal.

The cipher was about former Pakistan ambassador to the US Dr. Asad Majeed Khan’s meeting with Lu.

The former prime minister, claiming that he was reading contents from the cipher, said that “all will be forgiven for Pakistan if Imran Khan is removed from power”.

Then on March 31, the National Security Committee took up the matter and decided to issue a “strong demarche” to the country for its “blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan”.

Later, after his removal, then prime minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif convened a meeting of the NSC, which came to the conclusion that it had found no evidence of a foreign conspiracy in the cipher.