Rawalpindi: A leaked court statement reveals details of the former foreign secretary’s testimony in the cipher case. Sohail Mehmood, the ex-foreign secretary, provided his statement on January 22.
In his deposition, Mehmood disclosed that on March 8, 2022, the Pakistani ambassador in Washington informed him about a meeting with the American foreign minister on March 7, 2022. The meeting included the deputy head of mission, the American attaché, and the assistant secretary. During the session, it was disclosed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had received a cipher telegram.
Mehmood stated that the cipher was enclosed in a sealed telegram handed over to Haseeb Gohar on March 8, 2022, who then passed it on to Shah Mehmood Qureshi. He further mentioned that a note related to the cipher, sent by US Additional Secretary Faisal Niaz Tirmizi, prompted him to attend a meeting at Bani Gala on March 28, 2022, where Azam, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and Azam Khan were present. After the meeting, Mehmood took a copy of the cipher for safekeeping.
According to Mehmood, no minutes were instructed to be prepared for the cipher-related meeting. Subsequently, a cabinet meeting on April 8, 2022, decided that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would provide an in-camera briefing in Parliament regarding the cipher telegram. Surprisingly, the copy of the cipher telegram has not been returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as of September 2022.
