ISLAMABAD Former federal minister Asad Umar has also been arrested by Islamabad Police.
Asad Umar was reportedly arrested in a case related to the missing US cypher. Islamabad Police and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) will interrogate Asad Umar in the case related to missing classified document.
According to reports, Asad Umar’s secret meeting with the US ambassador will be probed. The FIA is busy investigating the cypher case.
PTI’s lawyer Ali Ejaz Buttar confirmed Asad Umar’s arrest. He said the former minister is being handed over in custody of the FIA. He said Asad Umar was also arrested from his residence in Islamabad in the cypher case.
A day earlier, FIA arrested PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi after a case was registered against him. Qureshi was arrested by a heavy contingent of police from his residence in Islamabad and ransferred to FIA headquarters.
He has been arrested in connection with the ongoing investigation into diplomatic cypher which has gone missing from the possession of the PTI chief.
Caretaker Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti has confirmed that Qureshi has been arrested in the cypher case by the FIA. He said all accused named in the cypher case will be arrested.
It has been revealed an FIR was registered against Qureshi in the case on August 15 regarding the missing classified document. The case was registered against Qureshi under Section 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act 1923 which was promulgated into law earlier today after being signed by the president.
A case has been registered against Qureshi on the complaint of Interior Ministry Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar. The FIR registered against Qureshi and other accused was filed after approval of the relevant authorities.
The complaint was registered by the Counter-Terrorism Wing of the FIA. The complaint said that Imran Khan, foreign minister Qureshi and their associates are involved in communication of information in secret classified documents by “twisting the facts to achieve their ulterior motives and personal gains in a matter prejudicial to the interests of state security.”
The FIR said that conspiracy was hatched in a secret meeting in Banigala, the residence of the PTI chief in Islamabad, on March 28, 2022, to misuse the contents of the cypher and accomplish their nefarious designs at the cost of national safety.
It said the copy of the cypher sent to PM’s Office was deliberately kept in the custody of the former prime minister with “malafide intention” and never returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It said the document is still in the possession of Imran Khan.
