ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday rejected pleas of former prime minister Imran Khan seeking bail and cancellation of the first information report (FIR) in the cipher case.
IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq announced the court order today which was reserved on October 16 after arguments were completed from both sides. During the last hearing, Khan’s counsel, Sardar Latif Khosa, had contended that a FIR could not be registered against his client since the federal cabinet of the former prime minister declassified the cipher. He further stated that the ex-premier enjoyed immunity as provided in Article 248 of the Constitution that protects the president, governor, prime minister, federal minister, minister of state, chief minister and provincial minister for their “act done or purported to be done.”
During the hearing, another counsel for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman, Barrister Salman Safdar argued that Section 5 of the Official Secrets Act was not applicable in the cipher case.
He said that the section could be invoked for sharing sensitive information with foreigners, and this “main ingredient is missing” in the FIR against the PTI chief.
Khan had challenged the registration of the FIR and sought bail in the case filed against him and the party’s vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi for misusing the secret document for their political gains. A special court formed under the Official Secrets Act has indicted both party leaders. They are currently incarcerated at the Adiala jail.
On October 26, the IHC had also rejected Imran Khan’s pleas to stop trial in the matter. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), in its challan, stated that the former prime minister and the ex-foreign minister were found guilty in the matter and requested the court to conduct their trial and sentence them in the case. Former PTI secretary-general Asad Umar’s name was not added to the list of accused while Imran Khan’s former principal secretary Azam Khan was also named as a “strong witness” in the case.
The FIA also attached Azam’s statements, recorded under Sections 161 and 164, along with the challan, said the sources, adding that the PTI chief kept the cipher to himself and misused the state secret. The sources also said that Khan had a copy of the cipher but he did not return it. Moreover, the FIA also attached the transcript of Khan and Qureshi’s speech on March 27 — the day when the former premier brandished a letter claiming it was a cipher from a foreign nation, that wanted his government to be removed from power. –Agencies
