Cipher case hearing adjourned again amid ruckus

ISLAMABAD: The cipher case proceedings were disrupted again on Monday, as the PTI founding chairman Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi lost their temper and started shouting.

As the situation worsened, Special Court Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain opted for a temporary break after which the proceedings were expected to resume at the Adiala jail.

During the last hearing on Saturday, the judge had decided to appoint state counsel for representing the two accused, as the defence lawyers again failed to appear before the court.

The move triggered chaos in the court, as the accused reacted angrily, forcing the judge to warn them.

It was Qureshi who first snatched the case file from the state defence counsel [the lawyer provided by the court to a defence party] and tossed it away while shouting.

Similarly, Imran used an harsh language against the judge during the hearing.

According to the court decision, Malik Abdul Rehman and Hazrat Younus would represent the PTI founding chairman and Qureshi, respectively as the state defence counsel and cross-examine the prosecution witnesses.

Earlier on Friday, FIA prosecutor Raja Rizwan Abbasi had requested the special court to close the defence counsel’s right to cross-examine, saying the defence was applying delaying tactics to prolong the trial.

He said one of the witnesses had come from the UAE to attend the court proceedings, but the defence counsel did not bother to come to the court.

Meanwhile, PTI leader and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi claimed that the former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa had warned Imran Khan to behave or else he would be punished.

Talking to the reporters during the case hearing, he said when the cipher case came under discussion, the PTI chairman constituted a three-member committee — comprising Pervaiz Khattak, Asad Umar and he himself — to talk to Qamar Javed Bajwa.

According to Qureshi, the committee members met Bajwa at the Army House and placed its reservations before him. Qureshi said after the meeting was over, Bajwa asked Imran to stay in the room and again warned him to behave and reset his priorities; otherwise, he will have to go behind the bars in the cipher case for 12 years.

After this, Qureshi continued, the PTI team met Bajwa at the President House on August 22 in which he again warned Imran Khan to behave or else he will to suffer the consequences. Qureshi said Bajwa should be called to the court and he would state all those things on oath.

He further said whoever won in the general elections on the PTI ticket and indulged in horse-trading would be committing political suicide.