LAHORE: Former interior minister and PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah said there was no debate that the cipher was a classified document, claiming that Imran had used the document for political purposes.
He said: “The punishment is completely justified, and it was given via legal means. They (PTI) have the right to appeal this decision and even go to the Supreme Court.” “What the Supreme Court meted out to the PTI in terms of disqualifying a political party is completely different from jeopardising national security,” Sanaullah added.
In a press conference later, PML-N leader and former law minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said Imran “used a classified document to save his government” and “made a joke out of the Official Secrets Act”. “Without worrying about Pakistan’s foreign affairs, he used the document to dissolve Pakistan’s National Assembly — which was later overturned by the Supreme Court,” he recalled.
Tarar said that an inquiry was later initiated in the case by the then cabinet but Imran never found it necessary to respond or defend himself. He further stated that even during the trial proceedings, the PTI founder boycotted the hearings several times. “At the end of the day, the law had to take its own course.”
“It was also reported that Imran recorded a detailed statement in which he admitted to revealing the contents of the cipher and losing the confidential document,” Tarar claimed. “But despite all this, Imran was apt that none of the charges against him amounted to a criminal offence.”
He added that the matters of relief and punishment were between the suspect and the court. “I believe that we should look at it as a purely judicial matter,” Tarar said.
Meanwhile, PML-N leader Attaullah Tarar said the cipher matter was “clear from day one”, alleging that the national security of the country was put on the line to gain political mileage. He said Imran’s lawyers did not present themselves before the court and opted for delaying tactics. “Today is the win for the state of Pakistan,” he added. “Enemies of Pakistan made fun of us over all this. Anti-Pakistan lobbies published articles.”
The PML-N leader said the punishment was according to the law and no one had the right to violate the Official Secrets Act. Tarar said that an inquiry was later initiated in the case by the then cabinet but Imran never found it necessary to respond or defend himself. He further stated that even during the trial proceedings, the PTI founder boycotted the hearings several times. “At the end of the day, the law had to take its own