A special court awarded 10 years of rigorous imprisonment to former Prime Minister Imran Khan and the PTI’s second-in-command and ex-Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in cipher case, connection with disregard to their official responsibility and failure to uphold state secrets under the Official Secret of Pakistan. The special court Judge announced the verdict in the presence of the accused at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) termed the court’s decision a complete mockery and disregard of the law, vowing that Pakistan stood with the both accused, who enjoyed popular support from the masses till this time.
Nearly a year ago during a public rally in Islamabad on March 27, then-Prime Minister Imran Khan waved a piece of a letter portraying an official memo containing highly sensitive information graded as secret, authored by Pakistan’s envoy to the United States, and addressed to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Khan told his emotional supporters that a foreign diplomat had threatened the Pakistani envoy to replace Khan from the premiership to garner support from the West otherwise Pakistan would face worse consequences. Khan maligned the opposition and government institutions including the Army for conspiring with a foreign country by launching a no-confidence motion against his government. Khan championed the gathering amid sloganeering of his supporters but a highly sensitive matter relating to the country’s foreign policy was compromised and became a topic of public discussion in the streets, Hujras, and TV talk shows.
The US State Department denied the allegation and refused the existence of any such plan, conspiracy, or coercive conversation with the Pakistani envoy in Washington. A nationwide crisis erupted on the issue of cipher and alleged foreign conspiracy. The National Security Committee (NSC) convened its meeting on the issue and a stern protest was lodged with Washington on this undiplomatic conduct of US official. Islamabad downgraded its bilateral relations with the US and both countries went through a brief period of tense diplomatic relations and least intergovernmental engagement., which caused significant damage to Pakistan’s foreign policy and economic interests at the global level.
Last year, a US-based online media outlet published the text of a leaked secret Pakistani cable, produced from the meeting by the ambassador and transmitted to Pakistan, which caused further embarrassment and shame for the Pakistani nation at the global level. Later, a case was registered by the state against the former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister for unauthorizedly holding secret documents and twisting the facts to achieve their ulterior motives and personal gains in a manner prejudicial to the interests of state security. The event It is pertinent to mention that on December 13, a special court established under the Official Secret Act indicted both of them in the case.
Realistically, Pakistan fell victim to the politics of the ego and populism, wherein, Senior bureaucrats got on board with certain political groups, ignoring their official responsibility and unconstitutional conduct. Such selfish policies and biased attitudes compromised national interests and gave birth to political chaos and anarchy in our society. The recent conviction of a former Prime Minister and his top aide is an unfortunate event and a grave setback to our National politics however all that was the result of misuse of authority, non-abidance to the state law, and publically commission of misconduct. In fact, authority comes with responsibility, and public leaders need more caution, liability, and sagacity because of multi-tier accountability from the Constitution, the media as well as the public. The cipher case also offers a lesson to civic groups and public leaders to segregate politics from personal rivalries, likes, and dislikes and deal with political business within its legal jurisdiction, because nation-building and public service is no less than worshiping God.
