By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan, who faces charges of leaking state secrets, asked a special court on Monday to summon the US embassy representative and a retired army general as witnesses in his defense.
Khan, who was ousted from power in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022, is accused of divulging the contents of a confidential diplomatic document that he claims proved his removal was part of a US conspiracy.
The document, which has not been made public, was allegedly a correspondence based on a conversation between a U.S. official and Pakistan’s top envoy in Washington regarding the political and security situation in the region.
Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have repeatedly accused former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa of orchestrating the coup against him at the behest of the US.
“Will include General Bajwa and US embassy officials as witnesses [in the case]. General Bajwa did everything on Donald Lu’s directives,” claimed Khan at an informal conversation with journalists in Adiala jail during the cipher case hearing, local media reported. “General Bajwa did everything on Donald Lu’s directives.”
Donald Lu is a United States diplomat serving as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs.
Babar Awan, a senior lawyer representing Khan, told reporters outside the Adiala Jail, where the former premier is being held, that his client had requested the court to call the US envoy and Bajwa as witnesses.
“Imran Khan has said that the US embassy representative should be called, and he also took the name of a former general,” Awan said, without naming Bajwa.
The court, which was set up in August to hear the case under the Official Secrets Act, of 1923, decided to indict Khan on December 12.
The trial was initially held behind closed doors in the jail, but the Islamabad High Court ruled earlier this month that such hearings were illegal and ordered an open trial with media, family members, and lawyers access.
However, the PTI said that the jail authorities had once again tried to restrict media presence despite the court’s order.
“Unfortunately, media wasn’t given access to today’s hearing, too,” the PTI said in a statement. “Only 2-3 handpicked journalists were allowed in, in the name of [an] open court hearing. Of course, no public was allowed.”
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