Ex-foreign secy testifies before special court: Cypher’s copy wasn’t returned to foreign ministry till Sept 2022

ISLAMABAD: The former foreign secretary Sohail Mahmood on Monday testified that the cypher copy had not been returned to the Foreign Affairs Ministry till his retirement in September 2022.

Mahmood said this while recording his statement as a witness before the judge of a special court inside the heavily guarded Adiala jail in cypher case, where the former prime minister Imran Khan and the then foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi appeared.

The special court Judge Abual Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain, presided over the open trial hearing, in which former secretary interior Yousaf Nasim, Islamabad assistant commissioner Awaid Irshad Bhatti, also recorded their statements.

Qureshi raised objection over constant interruption by the prosecutor Raja Rizwan Abbasi during the case, saying the prosecutor must stop interrupting as the witness is reading out his written statement.

“The witness knows what he’s supposed to say. The former foreign secretary is an honest man, and I know what the prosecutor is trying to do by interrupting the witness,” said Qureshi.

Taking a jibe at the prosecutor, Qureshi said: “If you are bent upon interrupting [the witness while recording his statement], then bring a written statement and read it out”.

“Did I ask anything misleading,” asked the prosecutor, to which, the foreign minister said: “If the prosecution had taken a balanced approach, the case could not have been nullified by the high court twice”.

At this, the judge asked Qureshi not to snub the prosecutor as it is not appropriate, but he stood his ground, saying he would object if the prosecutor did not stop interrupting the witness.

With this, the flamboyant Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan also came to the rostrum and said: “It’s all being done just to save the skin of Donald Lu [the controversial US diplomat whom he accuses of overthrowing his government] and that’s it”.

The judge asked Qureshi to let the proceedings continue, to this, he said that if the former prime minister and his foreign minister have full faith in the foreign secretary, why the prosecution is not ready to trust the official.

With this, the judge barred the prospector from interrupting the witness during the proceedings.

The hearing was adjourned till Tuesday (Jan 23).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024