What is the Cipher Case that resulted in a ten-year jail sentence for Qureshi and Imran Khan?

It was on March 27, 2022, that Imran first discussed the secret paper.

The word “cipher” has once again gained prominence in Pakistani politics with the Tuesday sentencing of former prime minister Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to ten years in prison in a “cipher case” that has garnered significant attention. The court was created under the Official Secrets Act.

This issue centers on a diplomatic paper that Imran Khan is accused of mishandling; according to allegations, it contains a threat from the US to have him removed from government. The statements made by the former premier caused controversy because Khan claimed that he was the target of a plot. On December 13, the special court reopened the Cipher trial at the Adiala district jail and formally indicted Imran and Qureshi.

After the government filed an October indictment against Imran and Qureshi, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared that the notice of a jail trial was “erroneous,” which resulted in the proceedings being dropped. Due to the lack of previously designated ones, state defense counsels were appointed last week. Imran, who disapproved of the trial, called it a “joke” because the government owned both the prosecution and defense teams.

In this sense, a cipher is a covert technique for encoding confidential messages in a coded language. Under the Official Secrets Act, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) claimed that Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi revealed the cipher of a confidential diplomatic letter.

Read More: Cipher Case: Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood sentenced to 10 years of Jail

Details of a discussion between representatives of the US State Department and Asad Majeed Khan, the Pakistani ambassador at the time, were purportedly included in the encrypted and challenging-to-decode document.

The contentious paper described a meeting between Asad Majeed Khan and US officials on March 7, 2022. Under the Official Secrets Act, the entire text is still secret, but The Intercept published a portion that showed a menacing letter that the US addressed via Pakistan’s envoy. This information was made public at the same time that Imran was the target of political maneuvers that led to his removal following a vote of no confidence.

Imran’s allegations and US denials

On March 27, 2022, Imran first discussed the classified dossier, bringing it up at a meeting in Islamabad as proof of a global plot against him. Subsequently, he stated that Pakistan’s envoy had received a menacing warning from the US. The US State Department has always refuted claims that it pushed Pakistani officials to unseat Imran.