Islamabad:

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a special court on Tuesday for leaking state secrets. his government.

Express quoted Khan as saying in a statement submitted to the court: “The plan was to send a message to retired Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa that if the government was conspired against, the entire plan would be Exposed.” Tribune.

The 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician also said the responsibility of protecting the codes – secret diplomatic communications – was not his. “One of my ADCs (adjutants) stole the password to the Bajwa order,” he said, adding that he never had the real password.

“During my three-and-a-half-year tenure, the security responsibility of the PMO was borne by the Military Secretary, Principal Secretary and Protocol Secretary,” he said.

According to reports, during the trial, the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf submitted a mandatory statement to the special court, saying that he only waved a piece of paper during the rally and expressed his fear of the conspiracy without naming any country.

The password controversy first emerged on March 27, 2022, when Khan, who was speaking at a public rally less than a month before he was deported in April 2022, waved a letter in front of the crowd claiming it was from Foreign secret codes. Working with his political opponents to overthrow his government.

Khan did not reveal the contents of the letter or name the country it came from. But days later he accused the United States of conspiring against him and claimed Mr Lew, the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, was seeking to remove him from office.

The code was about a meeting between Asad Majeed, the former Pakistani ambassador to the United States, and Lew.

The FBI filed an indictment against Khan and Qureshi on August 15 last year, accusing the two of violating confidentiality laws in their handling of a March 2022 cable sent by the Pakistani Embassy in Washington.

The verdict comes nine days before the February 8 general elections, in which PTI is campaigning amid a crackdown by the state government and without election symbols.

“This is the only missing document from the prime minister’s office. If the password is lost, the military minister should be asked to investigate,” Khan said in a statement. The former prime minister said this was the only time he was angry with the military minister. “One of my ADCs stole the passwords on the orders of General Bajwa,” Khan repeated his accusation.

He also said his government was overthrown as a result of a conspiracy. “General Bajwa and US Secretary of State Donald Lew were involved in this conspiracy”.

“The plot to overthrow our government took place in October 2021 when General Bajwa replaced ISI chief General Faiz Hameed (retd),” the PTI founder said.

Khan said, “All this happened with the connivance of General Bajwa, [PML-N leaders] Nawaz Sharif and Sherbaz Sharif because they promised General Bajwa to extend his term.”

“[Former ambassador to the US] Hussain Haqqani was paid $35,000 to lobby on behalf of Gen Bajwa in the United States. In April this year, Hussain Haqqani tweeted that Imran Khan is anti-American and General Bajwa is pro-American,” the former prime minister insisted in a statement.

Khan claimed that the former army chief used the ISI to persuade the PTI’s political allies to withdraw support from the government and force party members to leave, insisting that their “future depends on the PML-N”.

“When I met General Bajwa, I asked him about this conspiracy but he claimed that nothing of the sort had happened. Despite several meetings with him, the ISI continued to work with me The government is against it.

“In the first week of March, I paid an official visit to Russia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs agreed to the visit. Before leaving for Russia, I also talked to General Bajwa and he also agreed to my visit. Several After my return, Shah Mahmood Qureshi told me that Asad Majeed had sent a coded message from Washington.” “It was a shocking code and not befitting a prime minister or a foreign minister. See. Qureshi then called Asad Majeed (Ambassador to the US) to get information about the code and I was surprised after reading it,” Khan said.

He said there was no precedent for diplomats being threatened by U.S. officials during meetings. “They threatened there would be consequences if the prime minister was not removed.” Assad Majeed told Donald Lew that all stakeholders agreed to an official visit to Russia. Assad Majeed suggested issuing an official visit to the United States course of action, and our allies are sending us messages that they are under pressure from the ISI to withdraw from the alliance.” Khan claimed that the US Embassy in Pakistan was also active. “They called people to the embassy and during this period, several meetings were held with General Bajwa. They were told that if the government was overthrown, the economy would be destroyed and Sherbaz Sharif’s economic plans would not be stable Economy.” He further claimed that “the code sent by Donald Lew was addressed to General Bajwa because he has the power to overthrow the government.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)