Cabinet forms committee to investigate and fix responsibility.
ISLAMABAD - Expressing serious concern over the missing of the copy of controversial diplomatic cipher from the PM House record, the federal cabinet has accused ex-prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan of compromising vital national interests for political gains by tampering the diplomatic cipher.
“Vital national interests were damaged by giving concocted meanings to the diplomatic cipher for political gains and the cable was stolen after “fraud, forgery and fabrication”, noted the cabinet which met here with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair here yesterday.
It said that therefore, it was necessary under the constitution, law and rules to investigate the issue in detail and those found responsible be given severe punishment in accordance with the law.
The cabinet was given a briefing on the issue of diplomatic cipher, during which it was revealed that the copy of diplomatic cipher in question was missing from the PM House record which is a sheer violation of the Official Secret Act.
The meeting was told that though entry of the receipt of cipher sent to the former prime minister was found in the record, its copy, which is considered as the property of the PM House as per law, was missing from the record.
The meeting formed a committee which will determine a legal action against all the involved characters including the former prime minister, ex-Principal Secretary to PM and senior former ministers.
Besides the representatives of the government’s allied parties, the Cabinet Committee will comprise Ministers for Foreign Affairs Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Law and Justice Nazir Tarar.
The federal cabinet, which met on Friday with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair, held deliberations on the issue of audio-leaks on the cipher involving former prime minister Imran Khan and his team and termed it a strong violation of the constitutional oath, other related laws and regulations particularly the Official Secret Act. “It was the act of unpardonable crime against the state through which political interests were given priority over the vital national interests,” observed the cabinet. The cabinet endorsed the decision of the National Security Committee (NSC) to investigate the matter thoroughly and constituted a cabinet committee comprising Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Interior Minister Ranasanaullah and Law Minister Azam Nazir tarar.
