Month: December 2023

RAWALPINDI: Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Monday stated that he will include former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa and US embassy officials as witnesses in his defence in the cipher case.

“Will include General Bajwa and US embassy officials as witnesses [in the case]. General Bajwa did everything on Donald Lu’s directives,” claimed Khan during an informal conversation with journalists in Adiala jail during the cipher case hearing.

A special court established under the Official Secrets Act 2023 held an open court hearing in Adiala jail where Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi are incarcerated.

The court is conducting the trial afresh after the Islamabad High Court nullified the jail trial on November 21. Both of them were indicted on October 23 but the indictment stood cancelled after the IHC order.

Speaking to the media person today, the former prime minister predicted that his party would win the February 8 polls, adding that he was arrested under a plan.

Khan said he was thankful to those PTI leaders jumping the ship.

He also rejected reports that he held negotiations in jail. In November, PTI President Parvez Elahi claimed that officials of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund routinely visit Imran Khan at Adiala.

He also shared that he did not face any difficulties in jail.

Khan also spoke about the allegations put forward against him by Khawar Maneka — the former husband of his wife Bushra Bibi. He stated that he saw his wife’s face for the first time after their nikkah.

The former prime minister also claimed that Bushra’s sons were being pressurised to give a statement against their mother.

‘PTI in my heart, don’t need a post’

Meanwhile, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the co-accused in the cipher case, said that the PTI was in his heart and no one could take it out of there.

“I do not need any post in PTI anymore,” said Qureshi while talking to journalists.

Special court to indict Imran, Qureshi on Dec 12

The special court hearing the cipher case has set December 12 as the date of indictment for Khan and Qureshi.

The indictment date was set by Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain after both the suspects were provided with the case record during the hearing held in the Adiala jail.

During the hearing, PTI lawyers urged the court not to hand over the record, while the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) special prosecutor asked the court to go ahead.

Today was the second open court hearing after the judge decided to hold the trial in jail due to “serious security risks” brought to light by the prison’s superintendent.

The federal cabinet last week had also approved the summary to hold the jail trial of Khan and Qureshi in the cipher case after it was moved by the Ministry of Law and Justice.

The court had also stated that the proceedings can be attended by anyone who wishes to do so including the journalists.

Despite those orders, only six journalists were allowed to attend the hearing today by the jail authorities.

Ciphergate

The controversy emerged on March 27, 2022, when Khan — less than a month before his ouster in April 2022 — while addressing a public rally waved a letter before the crowd, claiming that it was a cipher from a foreign nation that had conspired with his political rivals to have PTI government overthrown.

He did not reveal the contents of the letter nor did he mention the name of the nation it came from. But a few days later, he accused the United States of conspiring against him and alleged that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had sought his removal.

The cipher was about former Pakistan ambassador to the US Majeed’s meeting with Lu.

The former prime minister, claiming that he was reading contents from the cipher, said that “all will be forgiven for Pakistan if Imran Khan is removed from power”.

Then on March 31, the National Security Committee (NSC) took up the matter and decided to issue a “strong demarche” to the US for its “blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan”.

Later, after his removal, then-prime minister Shehbaz Sharif convened a meeting of the NSC, which came to the conclusion that it had found no evidence of a foreign conspiracy in the cable.

In the two audio leaks that took the internet by storm and shocked the public after these events, the former prime minister, then-federal minister Asad Umar, and then-principle secretary Azam Khan could allegedly be heard discussing the US cipher and how to use it to their advantage.

On September 30, the federal cabinet took notice of the matter and constituted a committee to probe the contents of the audio leaks.

In October, the cabinet gave the green signal to initiate action against the former prime minister and handed over the case to the FIA.

Earlier this year on August 15, the FIA booked both the PTI leaders in the case.

The first information report (FIR) was registered on the complaint of Ministry of Interior Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar.

It invoked Sections 5 (wrongful communication of information) and 9 (attempt to commit or abet the commission of an offence under this Secrets Act) of the Official Secrets Act read with Section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

According to the FIR, on March 7, 2022, the then-foreign secretary received a cipher dispatched from Washington.

It added that a conclusion of a case registered with the FIA’s counter-terrorism department on Oct 5, 2022, transpired that Imran Khan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and their other associates “are involved in the communication of information contained in [the] secret classified document … to unauthorised persons (ie public at large)”.

“It is impossible not to touch on the humanitarian crisis taking place in Palestinian territories close to us,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the environmental meeting.

“The incidents taking place in Gaza are a humanitarian crime, a war crime,” added the Turkish leader, while the presidents of Colombia and Cuba both called the Israeli aggression “genocide”.

But Israeli President Isaac Herzog did not appear for his scheduled speech, a day after his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas cancelled his planned visit to COP28.

Qatar’s emir, originally listed as one of Friday’s speakers, was missing from the final line-up.

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did not attend the meeting, despite being scheduled to give the first speech.

No reason was given for Friday’s last-minute changes.

France said it regrets the end of a truce and called for its restoration. “Rupture of the truce is very bad news, regrettable, because it brings no solution and complicates the resolution of all questions that arise,” Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on the sidelines of the conference. She called a truce resumption “essential”.

Iran’s team abruptly quit COP28 in protest at Israel’s presence, which delegation chief and Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian said was “contrary to the goals and guidelines of the conference”, according to the official news agency IRNA.

IRNA had said late on Thursday that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi would not attend COP28 and Mehrabian would take his place.

Iraqi President Abdel Latif Rashid used his speech to “condemn the aggressive assault against Gaza”.

“We call upon the international community to stand firm against this assault,” he said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country was “appalled at the tragedy that is underway in Gaza”, the aggression against the innocent people.

“Palestine is a war crime that must be ended.” When King Abdullah II of Jordan, one of the first speakers, raised the subject of Gaza, one delegate started clapping, before quickly stopping when no one else joined in.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani discussed their deep regret over the collapse of the humanitarian pause in Gaza when they met at COP28 in Dubai, Sunak’s office said in a statement.

Other leaders also criticised the unrest, but there was no mention from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, a frontline state that shares a border with Gaza.

DUBAI: United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed on Friday pledged to establish a $30 billion fund for climate financing as world leaders from almost 200 countries gathered in Dubai for the UN’s COP28 summit.

The fund is intended to support the recently established catalytic climate vehicle, ALTÉRRA, which will spearhead global initiatives to establish a more equitable climate finance framework focusing on enhancing financing accessibility for the Global South, Al Arabiya reported.

With this $30 billion pledge, ALTÉRRA has grown to be the greatest private investment vehicle for climate change action in the world.

Additionally, by 2030, the organisation hopes to raise $250 billion worldwide.

It seeks to nudge private markets in the direction of climate investments while concentrating on underdeveloped economies and emerging markets, where traditional investment has lagged behind because of the greater perceived risks in those regions.

“I am pleased to announce the establishment of a $30 billion fund for global climate solutions,” Sheikh Mohamed said at COP28 on Friday. “This fund is designed to bridge the climate finance gap.”

The current lack of climate finance is a significant issue, with emerging markets and developing economies expected to require $2.4 trillion annually by 2030.

COP28 has made fixing climate finance a key pillar of its action agenda.

COP28 President Dr Sultan al-Jaber described the launch of the vehicle as a “defining moment” in the creation of a new era of international climate finance.

Al-Jaber, who will chair the ALTÉRRA’s Board, added: “ALTÉRRA provides a transformational solution for attracting private capital. Its scale and structure will create a multiplier effect in climate-focused investment, making it a vehicle like no other. Its launch reflects the COP Presidency’s Action Agenda and the UAE’s efforts to make climate finance available, accessible and affordable.”

Several finance-led programmes, including ALTÉRRA, were introduced at COP28 aiming to hasten the world’s shift to a low-carbon economy and enhancing climate resilience.

Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi, COP28 Director-General, will serve as ALTÉRRA’s Chief Executive Officer.

He said: “ALTÉRRA is a critical element in the UAE’s efforts to create a global green finance ecosystem that stimulates and empowers the growth of a new climate economy. It will build a vibrant climate investment landscape which further catalyzes investment into the Global South.”