Asad Qaiser demands judicial commission investigate cipher case
Pakistan
Former NA speaker condemns police raid at Achakzai's place
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – PTI leader Asad Qaiser on Monday demanded a judicial inquiry into the cipher case.
Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, the former NA speaker stated, “Our position on the cipher case is clear: we demand a judicial commission is formed and the truth will come out.”
The cipher case revolves around a diplomatic cable that the Federal Investigation Agency alleges was never returned by the PTI founder. The PTI has long maintained that the document contained a threat from the US to oust the PTI founder as the prime minister of Pakistan.
Asad Qaiser recalled that an extremely hostile attitude had been adopted towards Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington.
Pointing to the lawmakers sitting on the treasury benches, Qaiser asserted that all of them had called the cipher “false”, but later on, the same diplomatic cable was used as a tool to punish the PTI founder and the former foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
In January, both the PTI founder and Qureshi were sentenced to 10-year rigorous imprisonment in the cipher case by a special court established under the Official Secrets Act.
About the proceedings of the cases initiated against the PTI founder, Asad Qaiser said that the party founder was being subjected to long court proceedings of up to 14 hours in a single day. He also alleged that judges had been held at gunpoint to extract sentences [against the PTI founder].
The former speaker also condemned the police raid on PkMAP leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai's house. He however remarked that the time of fear and intimidation had passed.
Qaiser said he had spent 29 years with the founder of the PTI who, according to him, had always spoken in favour of the prevalence of rule of law.
He added that the PTI founder had never compromised on principles or fled the country, rather faced cases.
“Our leader will never back down, nor will he negotiate any offer,” averred Qaiser, adding that “we only want the supremacy of law and constitution”.
