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Web Desk — Vice chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Shah Mahmood Qureshi was arrested on Saturday from his Islamabad residence in connection with an investigation into the US cipher.
According to media reports, an FIA team arrested him and shifted him to the agency’s headquarters for interrogation.
Caretaker interior minister Sarfraz Bugti has confirmed that the PTI vice chairman was arrested by the FIA, adding that the PTI stalwart was nominated in the cipher case.
The PTI has also confirmed that the party leader was arrested from his residence in Islamabad.
Omar Ayub Reaction
PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan confirmed Qureshi’s arrest on social media. He said, “Vice Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureishi sahib arrested from his house in Islamabad. He had just reached home after a Press Conference”.
“It appears that this Caretaker Government wants to break the records of their predecessor Fascist Govt,” he added.
A joint investigation team of the FIA is investigating the cipher case. The PTI chairman and leaders have been claiming that the cipher contained evidence regarding the US threat to oust Imran Khan from power.
Ahead of the vote of no-confidence, Imran Khan waved a piece of paper in front of the crowd in Lahore on March 27, 2022, saying it was evidence that an international conspiracy was hatched to oust him from office.
Imran Khan Booked in Cipher Case
According to Geo News, an FIR was registered against Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Imran Khan on August 15 under section 5 of the Official Secret Act 1923 in the cipher case.
FIA counter-terrorism wing registered the case against the former prime minister — who was ousted from office after a no-confidence motion in April last year.
Geo quoted government sources as saying that Imran was booked under Section 5 of the recently-amended Official Secret Act.
Azam Khan’s Confession
The cipher case took a serious turn after former premier’s principal secretary Azam Khan’s statement before a magistrate as well as the FIA that Imran Khan (the former PM) had used the US cipher for his personal ‘political agenda’ and to defeat the no-confidence motion.
