Islamabad: The special court of Islamabad has extended the physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi for three days.
Sources told JEE News that the development came after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) asked PTI for further investigation into the cipher case related to the alleged misuse of classified documents by former Imran for political purposes. Asked for 9-day physical remand of the leader. Government led by Khan.
Judge Abul Hasnat was hearing the case in camera in the special court, which was recently set up under the Official Secrets Act – passed by parliament earlier this month amid fierce opposition from lawmakers.
After Qureshi was arrested by the FIA on August 20, he was brought to the judicial complex under heavy security by Frontier Corps and Islamabad Police personnel.
The senior PTI leader was represented by his lawyer Shoaib Shaheen, who opposed the FIA’s physical remand of Qureshi.
The special prosecutor of the cipher case, Zulfikar Naqvi, had requested a 9-day remand of the PTI leader, but the judge gave Shah Mahmood Qureshi to FIA custody on a 3-day physical remand.
According to a report in JEE News, the trial against PTI Chairman Imran Khan and his deputy Qureshi in the cipher case under the Official Secrets Act is expected to begin in a fortnight.
Official sources said the FIA is trying to finalize the challan by next week for the trial to begin in the recently constituted special court. FIA has already arrested both Khan and Qureshi in this case.
PTI’s vice chairman has been in agency custody since August 19. Later, he was remanded to FIA custody for four days till August 25 by a special court.
On the other hand, Khan was arrested in the Tosha Khana case during his imprisonment in Attock Jail. The JIT formed to probe the Cipher case questioned the former prime minister in Attock jail after which he told the joint investigation team about Cipher’s loss of a policeman.
The JIT’s probe is related to the diplomatic cipher that allegedly went missing from Imran’s custody and which it has long touted as evidence of a “foreign conspiracy” to remove him as prime minister.
