Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Khan’s questioning in the matter comes days after a case was registered under the Official Secrets Act for disclosing the contents of a classified diplomatic message from the country’s embassy in the US.
Media reports said that the Counter Terrorism Wing (CTW) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) met the jailed former Prime Minister on Saturday.
FIA sources said that a six-member joint investigation team led by FIA Deputy Director Ayaz Khan interrogated Khan for over an hour at the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Attock Jail.
According to a report in ‘The News’ newspaper, during questioning, Khan admitted to missing the document and said that he did not remember where he had kept it.
Khan also denied that the paper he waved as evidence of a conspiracy at a public meeting days before his government was ousted last year was a diplomatic document.
“The paper I showed people was the minutes of the cabinet meeting, it was not a diplomatic document,” the newspaper quoted Khan as saying.
The investigating agency registered a case against Khan and PTI vice-chairman and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi after investigations revealed their involvement in misuse and misappropriation of diplomatic documents.
The FIR also said that the role of former prime minister’s principal secretary Azam Khan, former planning minister Asad Umar and other associates will be determined during the probe.
Qureshi, a close aide of Khan, was arrested by the police from his residence here on August 19 and during interrogation on Saturday, Khan was questioned about Qureshi’s revelations.
The alleged document detailed a meeting between US State Department officials and the then Pakistani ambassador Asad Majeed Khan. Among the US officials was Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.
Cricketer-turned-politician Khan came into the limelight after American media group ‘The Intercept’ published an alleged copy of a classified document. At the same time, many in Pakistan’s previous government led by Shehbaz Sharif targeted Khan for his role in the leak.
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