A special court in Islamabad on Monday granted the four-day physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for hearing the cases filed under the Official Secrets Act. Case.
Qureshi, who was arrested by the FIA on Saturday, was produced before a special court today for hearing a cipher case registered under the same act.
Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Abul Hasnat heard the case registered against Shah Mahmood Qureshi under the Official Secrets Act.
At the start of the hearing, the FIA prosecutor sought a 13-day physical remand of Qureshi to recover the alleged missing cipher, while his lawyer Shoaib Shaheen opposed the FIA’s request.
The FIA prosecutor told the court that PTI chief Imran Khan, imprisoned in Attock jail, was also questioned in connection with the investigation of the case.
After hearing the arguments, the court reserved its decision on the request of FIA.
After some time, the judge delivered a reserved verdict and ordered the FIA officials to produce Qureshi in court on August 25 (Friday).
Earlier, Judge Hasnat ordered unauthorized persons out of the courtroom before the in-camera hearing began.
The judge said it was a matter of the Official Secrets Act, irrelevant people should go away.
A heavy contingent of Islamabad police was stationed outside the courtroom.
PTI lawyers Shoaib Shaheen, Intizar Panjotha, Gohar Ali and Ali Bukhari are inside the courtroom, while the party’s junior lawyers were ordered to go outside.
Court proceedings will be in camera as per law.
The establishment of the court comes amid controversy over President Arif Alvi’s approval of the Official Secrets Act. The law was given the green light a few days before the dissolution of the National Assembly on August 7.
Both Shah Mehmood Qureshi and PTI Chairman Imran Khan have been charged under the Act for using diplomatic words for political gain.
The FIR stated that both the PTI chairman and the former foreign minister disclosed the contents of secret documents to unauthorized persons and distorted the facts with adverse objectives against the interests of state security and There were personal interests.
The PTI politician was arrested in the case on Saturday (August 19), while Khan was booked on August 15 by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) under Section 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923. .
What is a cipher case?
The cipher controversy first emerged on 27 March 2022, when Khan – days before his ouster – published a letter, which he claimed was from a foreign nation, in which he The removal of the government from power was mentioned.
In October 2022, the federal cabinet gave the green signal to initiate action against the former prime minister and handed over the case to the FIA.
The cypher case against the former prime minister turned serious when his principal secretary Azam Khan testified before a magistrate and the FIA that the former prime minister had “political advantage” and to prevent a no-confidence vote against him. American cipher was used for this. .
The ex-bureaucrat said in his confession that he was “happy” when he provided the cipher to the former prime minister and called the language “an American mistake”. According to Azam, the former prime minister then said the cable could be used to “create a narrative against the establishment and the opposition”.
Azam said the PTI chairman used American ciphers in political gatherings, despite his advice to refrain from such acts. He mentioned that the former prime minister had also told him that the cipher could be used to draw public attention to “foreign involvement” in the opposition’s no-confidence motion.
