Islamabad High Court likely to hear Chairman PTI’s pleas against cipher case ahead of trial court’s indictment

ISLAMABAD, Oct 12 (SABAH): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday combined former prime minister and Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan’s separate petitions seeking to stay the trial court proceedings in the cipher case and dismiss the case altogether.

The cipher case pertains to a diplomatic document that reportedly went missing from Imran Khan’s possession. The PTI alleges that the document contained a threat from the United States to oust Imran Khan from office.

The PTI chief was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison in the Toshakhana graft case on August 5, 2023. He was subsequently shifted to Attock jail, but the IHC later suspended his sentence. However, Imran Khan remained in jail because he was on judicial remand in the cipher case.

On September 26, the IHC accepted Imran’s petition to be shifted to Adiala jail in Rawalpindi from Attock district jail.

On September 30, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) submitted a challan —a charge sheet — in the Special Court established under the Official Secrets Act, naming the former prime minister and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi as the principal accused in the cipher case.

Imran Khan has filed several petitions in the IHC, including one seeking to stay his jail trial in the cipher case, another seeking to suspend the Toshakhana verdict, and a third against his indictment in the cipher case, which is [set for October 17].

On Thursday, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq took up a separate plea seeking the stay of Imran’s trial in the cipher case and clubbed it with the main plea, wherein he has sought the dismissal of the case and be fixed for hearing.

During the hearing, senior lawyer Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa appeared as Imran’s counsel and informed the court that the pleas were seeking the stay of the trial court proceedings and challenging the special court’s order of indictment.

He further said that the matter was pending before the IHC and a verdict had been reserved, adding that the Lahore High Court has also issued a stay order in a case by the FIA.

Latif Khosa reiterated that he had urged the special court to “not hurry” as the matter was pending before the high court.

The lawyer went on to emphasise that he had “plenty of concerns” regarding the application of the Official Secrets Act in the case.

“What security was compromised or which secrecy [sic] was leaked? Bhutto sahib had also made similar remarks in his speech in Raja Bazaar, so what?

“My client is a national hero and the world knows and believes that. Now, he is in jail [while] innocent,” Khosa asserted.

Justice Farooq then asked him if the separate plea should be combined with that seeking dismissal of the case, to which Khosa agreed on the condition that it would be fixed before October 17.

When Justice Farooq inquired what would happen on October 17, the counsel replied, “There would be great unpleasantness on October 17. A trial is under way. Indictment is to take place.”

The chief justice then observed that he would review the matter and issue an order on it, assuring that the pleas would be fixed for hearing before October 17.

Separately, the IHC also removed objections to the plea filed a day ago that challenged the special court’s indictment order of October 9.

Justice Farooq also took up this plea on Thursday while Sher Afzal Khan Marwat appeared as Imran’s lawyer and argued that his client had not accepted the copies of the case while the order stated otherwise.

Marwat further asserted that the PTI chief had not accepted the copies of the indictment challan (charge sheet) either while Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain had claimed the contrary.

He urged the court to remove the objections to the petition, to which Justice Farooq responded that he would review the rules under which the objections had been raised and how to remove them.

Marwat lamented that the special court did not even wait for the IHC’s verdict on the former premier’s plea against his jail trial.

Subsequently, the IHC reviewed the court rules and directed for the objections to the plea to be removed.

In August, President Dr. Arif Alvi had denied signing the Official Secrets (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill, 2023, claiming that his staff “undermined” his orders.

It is pertinent to mention here that two PTI leaders — Khan and Qureshi — were arrested after a first information report (FIR) was registered against them under the Official Secrets Act for disclosing the contents of the diplomatic cipher for political gains on August 15.

At this, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq asked the PTI’s lawyer if he club the miscellaneous application with the main case.

Agreeing with the judge, Khosa urged the court to fix a date for hearing the case ahead of October 17 as the trail court had set the date for Khan’s indictment. At this, the judge said that he would look into this and would fix a date ahead of October 17.

The controversy first emerged on March 27, 2022, when Khan — less than a month before his ouster in April 2022 — while addressing a public rally waved a letter before the crowd, claiming that it was a cipher from a foreign nation that had conspired with his political rivals to have PTI government overthrown.

He did not reveal the contents of the letter nor did he mention the name of the nation it came from. But a few days later, he accused the United States of conspiring against him and alleged 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 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 US for its “blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan”.

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

In the two audio leaks that took the internet by storm and shocked the public after these events, the former prime minister, then-federal minister Asad Umar, and then-principle secretary Azam could allegedly be heard discussing the US cipher and how to use it to their advantage.

On September 30, the federal cabinet took notice of the matter and constituted a committee to probe the contents of the audio leaks.

In October, the cabinet gave the green signal to initiate action against the former prime minister and handed over the case to the FIA.

Once the FIA was given the task to probe the matter, it summoned Khan, Umar, and other leaders of the party, but the PTI chief challenged the summons and secured a stay order from the court.

The LHC, in July this year, recalled the stay order against the call-up notice to Khan by the FIA.