Senior lawyer Shoaib Shaheen has accused Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah of interfering in cipher investigation while reacting to the latter’s press conference on reported confession of ex-principal secretary Azam Khan.

“This is a crime,” Shaheen said on Aaj News show Faisla Aap Ka on Thursday. “The Federal Investigation Agency should conduct impartial investigations.”

The reported confession of Khan, the Toshakhana case against the former prime minister, and Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar’s press conference were discussed on the show.

An alleged confession of Azam, the PTI chairman’s principal secretary when he was prime minister, surfaced on social media. He allegedly claimed that the narrative behind the cipher was fabricated. The PTI chief had for long presented the letter or cipher as evidence of a “foreign conspiracy” to oust him from the top office.

Shaheen was of the view that questions should have been raised over the “missing” of Khan, who is a 22-grade high profile officer. He added that so far the interior minister has spoken about the former principal secretary.

Sanaullah told the press conference on Wednesday that Khan recorded the alleged statement before a judicial magistrate under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Section 161 of the CrPC on the notices issued to him by the Federal Investigation Agency.

The senior lawyer went on to explain that it was necessary that a person against whom a statement was recorded should be present for a statement recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC. So that he has a moment for cross-examination, he added.

He was wary of the interior minister’s conducting a press conference on it and using the alleged document.

Hasan Raza Pasha of the Pakistan Bar Council, who was another guest on the show, said that there are two types of confinement: forced and willful.

He went on to add that the former principal secretary to the PM should have spoken about his “forced of willful confinement” if he recorded a statement with the magistrate. If the statement was true then it should be out, he added.

When asked about the alleged statement, journalist Mazhar Abbas lamented the state of the media as he spoke about the source of such a piece of information.

He questioned the authenticity of such information before presenting it.