Lahore, Dec 5 (PTI) Pakistan's ousted prime minister Imran Khan on Monday approached the Lahore High Court against the government's inquiry into the audio leaks related to the US cypher.

The LHC registrar office fixed the hearing of a petition of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman challenging a call-up notice by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in an inquiry into an audio leak regarding the US cipher controversy for Tuesday.

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"The registrar office had put an objection to the maintainability of the petition on the ground of territorial jurisdiction terming the matter apparently falling within the domain of the Islamabad High Court. However, the registrar office had fixed the petition for hearing as an ‘objection case' before Justice Asjad Javed Ghural on Tuesday,” a court official told PTI.

The FIA has summoned 70-year-old Khan on December 6 in connection with the investigation into audio leaks related to the US cipher.

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In the clip, which surfaced in September last, Khan, his principal secretary Azam Khan and former minister Asad Umar were allegedly heard discussing how to “play with the cypher” to give the impression of a foreign conspiracy and build a narrative.

The Shehbaz Sharif government took notice of the matter and constituted a committee to probe the contents of the audio leak. Later, the cabinet also approved legal action against those involved in the matter.

The FIA had also summoned PTI vice-chairman and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Asad Umar.

In the petition, Khan said that the FIA initiated an inquiry into the alleged audio leak pertaining to the diplomatic cipher received from a foreign country.

"The alleged audio released by the federal government has not only jeopardized the security of as high an office as prime minister but is also a blatant violation of fundamental rights of the petitioner," Khan said, adding that the FIA's notice is silent about any criminal wrongdoing committed by him.

He said the alleged audio leak matter had already been challenged by the petitioner before the Supreme Court.

Khan said that the FIA's inquiry is a "politically motivated" move with a sole purpose to "arm-twist and harass me."

He urged the court to set aside the impugned call-up notice by declaring it being issued without jurisdiction.

"The court should quash the impugned inquiry and earlier notice in the interest of justice since no wrong doing whatsoever has been pointed out against the petitioner,” Khan requested.

Khan, who was ousted through a no confidence motion in April, had claimed that the opposition's no-trust move was part of an alleged "foreign-funded conspiracy" hatched against his government over his refusal to have Pakistan's foreign policy be influenced from abroad (US).

(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)