World News | Ex-premier Imran Khan, His Aide Qureshi Indicted in Cipher Case
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. A special court in Pakistan on Wednesday once again indicted former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case for allegedly leaking state secrets and violating the laws of the country.
Islamabad, Dec 13 (PTI) A special court in Pakistan on Wednesday once again indicted former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case for allegedly leaking state secrets and violating the laws of the country.
Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqernain conducted the proceedings of the case in the high security Adiala Jail Rawalpindi where the two top leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have been incarcerated in the case.
The judge read out the charges against the two leaders, who were present inside the courtroom, but both of them pleaded not guilty.
According to details coming out of the courtroom, the judge read out three charges, including that the accused had violated the Official Secrets Act during their time in office and thus damaged the security of the country; that Khan waved the cipher at a rally held in Islamabad on March 27, 2022; and that the two accused used the cipher for political purposes.
Khan, 71, and Qureshi, 67, were standing facing the judge when the charges were read and as the judge read the charges, Khan asked him to include in the charge sheet that he (Khan) had also exposed the national and international establishment.
He also asked how it was possible that first his government was toppled and then he was made an accused in the case. “They made us the accused after toppling our government. How can the one who was ousted also be the accused?”
Khan also said that this entire “drama” was being staged to save ex-army chief retired Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and US diplomat Donald Lu.
It is pertinent to mention that Khan during the last hearing had demanded the Gen (retd.) Bajwa and a US embassy envoy should also be summoned to make a statement about the cipher.
The ex-premier said that he was “not afraid of the death penalty”. He insisted that the cipher was written to topple his government. “There is a conspiracy within the cipher which is being hidden,” he said.
"How can there be a fair trial when the media is being muzzled? If a fair trial is not conducted, the responsibility will lie with you for the rest of your life,” he said.
As Khan continued to target the trial process, the judge asked him to remember that he was in a court of law and his tone was “not appropriate”.
Qureshi also spoke on the occasion and stated two patriotic person were being implicated in the case. He said that as he foreign minister he had seen “hundreds” of ciphers during his time in office as well as issued instructions on them but the one in question was “unique”.
"The foreign minister is known as the chief diplomat across the world. Then a cipher comes which is not shown to the chief diplomat. In my view, there must be some reason for keeping it hidden,” he said.
After indictment, the hearing was adjourned till Friday.
Family members of the two leaders and a group of selected journalists were also allowed to witness the proceedings.
This was the second time that the two were indicted. Earlier, they were earlier indicted on October 23 but the process was nullified by the Islamabad High Court.
Judge Zulqernain while hearing the case on December 4 had declared that fresh indictment was mandatory in the light of the Islamabad High Court judgment which declared all proceedings illegal after ruling against the jail trial on procedural grounds.
It resulted in the fresh process to initiate an in-prison trial of the duo after completing all procedures and starting the case from the start.
The Federal Investigation Agency registered the cipher case on August 15 on the charges of violating the secret laws of the country. The FIA on September 30 filed the charge sheet against Khan and Qureshi who signed its copies. The FIA invoked in the charge sheet sections 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act which may lead to a death sentence, or two to 14 years' imprisonment if convicted.
The case is based on the allegation that a diplomatic document sent by the Pakistan embassy in March last year was mishandled by Khan and Qureshi and they violated the secret laws of the country.
Meanwhile, lawyers representing the accused criticized the court for violating the law and some of them even contested the indictment. Counsel Salman Safdar said that no indictment was done.
Another lawyer, Salman Akram Raja, said only three to four media persons were allowed inside and seated behind a glass wall at a distance from the PTI leaders' families.
“We will go back to the high court. I myself came here today to see what the conditions are and the things I've seen don't seem anything more than a farce,” he said.
Qureshi's daughter Meher Bano also stated in a social media post that no charges had been framed against Khan and her father.
"I was present in court and neither I nor the lawyers present witnessed any formal framing of charges. If this was indeed an OPEN TRIAL there would be no such confusion,” she said.
However, the FIA special prosecutor said that charges had been framed against the two and the prosecution's evidence would be presented in court tomorrow.
Khan was ousted through a vote of no-confidence in April 2022. More than 150 cases have been registered against him since his ouster from power.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)