Chairman & Vice Chairman PTI’s bail applications rejected in cipher case

ISLAMABAD, Sep 14 (SABAH): A special court in Islamabad rejected on Thursday the post-arrest bail pleas of ousted premier and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan and former federal minister for foreign affairs Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi.

The court constituted under the Official Secrets Act had earlier reserved its decision on this matter while granting pre-arrest bail to former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) general-secretary Asad Umar.

During the hearing, Imran Khan’s counsel maintained that no other leader has been subjected to political victimisation to the extent the PTI chairperson is facing. There are 180 cases lodged against him, with over 140 registered before his arrest, said the counsel.

The defence argued that the entire cabinet would have to be implicated as this matter could not be assigned to one individual while referring to meetings held by the National Security Council during which the cypher was discussed.

Imran’s lawyer contended that keeping documents safe was not the prime minister’s job but part of his principal secretary’s.

At one point during the hearing, the Special Court judge Abual Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain inquired about how the cypher went missing when it was a classified document. He observed that copies of the cypher held by the army chief, the DG ISI and the foreign ministry were not the same.

Questions were also raised by the defence counsels over former principal secretary Muhammad Azam Khan’s whereabouts.

After the completion of arguments by the counsels, the court reserved its verdict for a short while. Later, the court rejected both bail pleas.

Meanwhile the special court set up under the Official Secrets Act accepted the pre-arrest bail of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Umar against Rs50,000 surety bond in the cipher case.

Special Prosecutor Shah Khawar intervened when Asad’s lawyer Salman Safdar was arguing the case and told the court that there was no evidence of his involvement in the case. So his arrest was not required in the case.

Advocate Babar Awan requested the court to confirm Asad’s bail if FIA did not have any evidence against him. Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain accepted his plea and announced decision in the court.

The judge observed that according to the prosecution, there was no evidence against Asad Umar yet. Asad offered to join investigation but the prosecution did not initiate inquiry. According to FIA, Asad Umar’s arrest is not required.

The judge ordered the FIA to proceed according to the law. If his arrest was required, FIA would inform him before taking action.

The Assistant Special Prosecutors intervened and requested to start the hearing at 12 noon. But, Judge Abul Hasnat refused to oblige him and said the court would not follow his wish.

The assistant interrupted the judge and argued that Asad had to go to the FIA and it was not the FIA to approach him. Asad should have submitted the documents and gone to the investigating officer, he added.

Judge Abul Hasnat said that the law follows merit. The court would not follow your wishes. If you want to question him, do it in the court room. The court would dispense justice.

Asad came to the rostrum and told the court that the FIA summoned him twice, in December last and recently. He was interrogated for one and two hours, respectively. After questioning him, the FIA declared that he had no role the cipher case, the leader continued. He termed the case against him political victimisation.

The judge turned down prosecution’s request for adjournment and said he would decide bails of Asad Umar, PTI Chairman and Shah Mehmood Qureshi today.

“File as many applications you want, I will announce the decisions on all the requests today.”

The Assistant Special Prosecutor then requested that the arguments on the three bails be heard together.

The judge said that two bails and one pre-arrest petitions would be heard separately. He asked the prosecutor if Asad has no role in the case, why he was nominated in the case.

“Why is Asad Umar’s bail application being opposed? Give a solid reason. There will be no compromise on the bail application,” the judged said.

Last month, the FIA booked PTI chief Khan and the party’s vice chairman Qureshi under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly misplacing and misusing classified document for vested political interests.

“Consequent upon the conclusion of the enquiry No. 111/2023 dated 05.10.2022, registered in the CTW, FIA Islamabad, it transpired that former prime minister namely Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi, former foreign minister namely Shah Mahmood Qureshi and their other associates are involved in communications of information contained in the secret classified document (Cipher Telegram received from Parep. Washington dated 7th March, 2022 to Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to the unauthorised person (i.e. public at large) by twisting the facts to achieve their ulterior motives and personal gains in a manner prejudicial to the interests of state security,” read first information report (FIR) registered against the PTI leaders.

Subsequently, both leaders were arrested in connection with the investigation into the case and a special court was established under the Official Secrets Act to try the accused.

A day earlier, the special court extended Imran and Qureshi’s judicial remand till September 26 in the cipher case.

The controversy first emerged on March 27, 2022, when Imran Khan — just days before his ouster in April 2022 — brandished a letter, claiming that it was a cipher from a foreign nation, which mentioned that his government should be removed from power.

He did not reveal the contents of the letter nor mention the name of the nation that had sent it. But a few days later, he named the United States and said that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had sought his removal.

The cipher was about former Pakistan ambassador to the US Asad Majeed’s meeting with Lu.

The former prime minister, claiming that he was reading contents from the cipher, said that “all will be forgiven for Pakistan if Imran Khan is removed from power”.

Then on March 31, the National Security Committee (NSC) took up the matter and decided to issue a “strong demarche” to the country for its “blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan”.

Later, after his removal, then-prime minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif convened another meeting of the NSC, which came to the conclusion that it had found no evidence of a foreign conspiracy in the cipher.

The cipher case against the former premier became serious after his principal secretary Azam Khan stated before a magistrate as well as the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that the former PM had used the US cipher for his “political gains” and to avert a vote of no-confidence against him.

The former bureaucrat, in his confession, said when he provided the ex-premier with the cipher, he was “euphoric” and termed the language a “US blunder”. The former prime minister, according to Azam, then said that the cable could be used for “creating a narrative against establishment and opposition”.

Azam said the US cipher was used in political gatherings by the PTI chairman, despite his advice to him to avoid such acts. He mentioned that the former prime minister also told him that the cipher could be used to divert the public’s attention towards “foreign involvement” in the opposition’s no-confidence motion.