Ex-PM ‘illegally retained’ cipher: Imran, Qureshi indicted, witnesses summoned on 27th

ISLAMABAD: A special court, established under the Official Secrets Act, indicted former prime minister Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the cipher case, here on Monday.

Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain read out the charges, which said that Imran Khan “illegally retained and wrongly communicated” the cipher.

“The said information/cipher was relating to top secret information, which were inter-se two states i.e., United States and Pakistan,” said the charge-sheet, adding that the PTI chief used the cipher in a “prohibited place (jalsa)” and “wilfully communicated” the secret information to the participants, in violation of “interests of the State of Pakistan”.

“The cipher was entrusted to you in confidence by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [but] you used the document while keeping it in your possession for the benefit of your personal political designs and compromised the cipher and the security system of Pakistan,” the judge further read out. The charge sheet further stated that Imran conspired to “misuse the contents of the cipher” at a meeting in his Bani Gala residence on March 28, 2022. It added that Imran kept the cipher in his possession and never returned it to the foreign ministry.

The charge sheet added that Qureshi “aided and abetted” Imran and, therefore, was liable for the act in the same manner.

However, both the accused pleaded not guilty. The special court issued notices to summon the government lawyers for October 27 in the Official Secrets Act case. The judge conducted hearing of the cipher case in Adiala jail, Rawalpindi.

Both the PTI leaders were indicted after their petition under CrPC 265-D to stop the indictment was rejected. The judge, while rejecting the petitions, stated that today’s hearing was fixed for indictment.

Speaking to the media outside the jail before the hearing, FIA Special Prosecutor Shah Khawar said the suspects have to be indicted, while the defence side is expected to file an application under Section 265D of the CrPC. If the suspects plead not guilty, 28 witnesses will be summoned in sets, Shah Khawar added.

A spokesman for the PTI said Imran Khan was charged under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act in a trial “conducted within the court premises with no access to public or media”, according to an AFP report.

“We are going to challenge it,” Khan’s lawyer Umar Khan Niazi told reporters outside the jail. Separately, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) reserved its decision on a plea of former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi against the jail trial in the cipher case. Chief Justice Aamir Farooq remarked that an accused could not be deprived of the right to consult his lawyer before indictment.

Later on, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf strongly rejected the special court’s decision on Monday and dubbed the indictment of Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the cipher case as ‘murder of justice and judicial system’.

Meanwhile, PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan wrote a letter to President Arif Alvi to play his role and stress the state institutions to take cognizance of the grave transgressions and remedy them urgently to pave the way for continuity of democracy, upholding of the Constitution and ensuring respect for human rights, enshrined in the Constitution.