These can happen in Pakistan easily.These can only happen in Pakistan -- India's well known western neighbour.
Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan has been sentenced to 10 years in jail in a case in which he was charged with leaking state secrets. Khan, who was ousted by his opponents as PM in 2022, is already serving a three-year jail term after being convicted of corruption.
He has called all the charges against him politically motivated.
The conviction under the secrets act comes the week before general elections in which he is barred from standing. The former international cricketer later urged the public to "take revenge for every injustice with your vote on February 8 while remaining peaceful" in a statement released on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
"Tell them that we are not sheep that can be driven with a stick," he continued.
Former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi - vice-chairman of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party - was also sentenced to 10 years in prison by the special court set up inside Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where both men are being held.
The so-called cipher case revolves around the alleged leaking of secret diplomatic correspondence sent by Pakistan's ambassador in Washington to Islamabad when Khan was prime minister.
It relates to his appearance at a rally in March 2022, a month before the former cricketer was ousted from power in a parliamentary vote of no confidence. Imran Khan appeared on stage, waving a piece of paper that he says showed a foreign conspiracy against him.
Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were handed 10 years in jail in the cipher case on Tuesday by a special court established under the Official Secrets Act.
The case pertains to a diplomatic document that the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) charge sheet alleges was never returned by Imran. The PTI has long held that the document contained a threat from the United States to oust Imran as prime minister.
In March 2022, Imran had waved a letter at a PTI rally, saying he had evidence that an international conspiracy was hatched to topple his government.
“Foreign funding is being used to change the government. Money is coming from abroad and people inside the country are being used. Some of them are unaware they are being used and some are intentionally using this money against us,” Imran had said while reading out a note during his speech.
The development had come as the then-opposition had submitted a no-confidence motion against Imran.
The letter was subsequently shared with members of the then-federal cabinet in a hurriedly called meeting, which was not attended by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) despite being invited. The letter was shown to the cabinet members on a TV screen.
Imran had also called a selected group of TV anchors and informed them that “the language of the letter was threatening and arrogant” and that Pakistan would face dire consequences if the no-confidence motion failed. However, the then-premier did not show the letter to the media.
As the no-confidence move against Imran gathered steam, he — in an apparent slip of the tongue — proceeded to name the United States as the country behind the letter, only to quickly correct himself and say that it was some other country and not America, reports 'Dawn'.
Subsequently, the National Security Committee — the country’s top civil-military forum — had expressed “grave concern” over US meddling in Pakistan’s internal affairs and decided to lodge a strong protest.
By April 2022, despite the PTI government’s insistence on a foreign conspiracy being behind the move to oust the ruling party, the no-confidence move against Imran was successful — making him the first prime minister in Pakistan’s history to have been removed from office through such a move.
It later emerged that the conversation that set off the so-called scandal took place on March 7 at a farewell lunch for the then-Pakistan ambassador Asad Majeed Khan at his residence, which is also known as Pakistan House.
US officials who attended the lunch included US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu and Deputy Assistant Secretary Lesslie C Viguerie. The Pakistani side comprised Deputy Chief of Mission Syed Naveed Bokhari and the defence attaché.
In September 2022, multiple audios of prominent politicians were leaked, including one featuring Imran discussing what was now known as the cipher with his then-principal secretary Azam Khan.
In the purported clip, the former premier could be heard telling Azam to ‘play up’ the threat and turn it into a foreign plot to oust his government. He cautioned, however, to refrain from naming any country in the threat.
“We only have to play it up. We don’t have to name America. We only have to play with this, that this date [of the no-trust vote] was [decided] before,” he was heard saying in the audio clip.
Subsequently, Imran had stated that the document at the centre of the entire affair should now be leaked.
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