ATTOCK: The special court established to hear cases under Official Secrets Act on Wednesday extended judicial remand of PTI Chairman Imran Khan for 14 day during hearing of the in cypher case held at Attock Jail.
The PTI chief who has been incarcerated in Attock Jail, was presented before Special Court’s Judge Abul Hasnat Mohammad Zulqarnain who held proceedings in the jail Superintendent’s office.
Earlier, in light of security concerns the Law and Justice Department decided to conduct the cypher case hearing against the PTI chairman in the jail.
Judge Abul Hasnat Mohammad Zulqarnain of the special court set up to hear cases under the Official Secrets Act was designated to preside over the cipher case proceedings, as outlined in the ministry’s notification.
Though the cypher issue never really faded out, it resurfaced after a US publication recently published its contents.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has now launched a thorough probe into the alleged “disappearance” of the diplomatic cypher, booking Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi under the recently enacted Official Secrets Act.
The court extended the judicial remand of the former premier till September 13 and immediately left for Islamabad after conducting the hearing.
Security outside the jail was beefed up, as police and Elite Force personnel were deployed around the prison premises and all the routes leading to the jail were sealed.
Earlier, a special court established to try the case under the Official Secrets Act, 1923, ordered the Attock jail superintendent to keep Imran in “judicial lockup and produce him on 30.08.2023 before this court”. Imran’s number 2 in the PTI, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, has already been arrested in the same case.
It should also be noted here that though the FIA had requested the court to grant physical remand for Imran Khan, the court had rejected the plea and sent him on judicial remand instead. According to the FIA, once judicial remand has been granted, pleas for physical remand are no longer admissible and only a bail application can be filed before trial begins.
Imran Khan’s legal team including lawyers Salman Safdar, Intezar Panjutha, Shoaib Shaheen and others were present at the Attock jail
A post-arrest bail application was also filed by the PTI chairman’s legal team. The lawyers argued that there is no legitimate Official Secret Act case against Imran and that the entire matter had been concocted for political revenge.
On Tuesday, Imran Khan was re-arrested in the cypher case moments after his sentence in the Toshakhana criminal case was suspended by the Islamabad High Court.
Moments after, the Islamabad High Court had suspended the sentence of Imran Khan in the Toshakhana criminal case. A division bench of IHC Chief Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri accepted Imran Khan’s appeal and pronounced the decision.
The court had ordered to release Imran Khan from jail after submitting bail bonds surety of Rs100,000.
Jail trial challenged at IHC
Meanwhile, a petition challenging the law ministry’s notification to transfer the court to the Attock jail has been filed with the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
Notably, the interior ministry, in view of security concerns, had written a letter on August 29 seeking permission to conduct a jail trial of the PTI chief on August 30. The law ministry replied that it had no objection in this regard.
In his plea, Imran Khan through his lawyer Sher Afzal Marwat has said that the notification is ‘illegal’ and requested the IHC to quash it.
He has also challenged the authority of Islamabad’s Anti-Terrorism Court-1 (ATC) judge Zulqarnain to hear the cases registered under the Official Secrets Act.
According to the application, the judge does “not meet even the basic qualification criteria required in this case”.
The law secretary, interior secretary, chief commissioner, IG, DG FIA, superintendent Adiala jail and superintendent Attock jail have been made parties to the matter.
‘Imran in high spirits and is positive’
Later, Barrister Safdar confirmed the court extended Imran Khan’s judicial remand by 14 days and also issued a notice on his post-arrest bail plea, seeking a reply from the respondents by September 2.
”سائفر ایک سفارتی خط و کتابت کو کہتے ہیں، اصل سائفر ہمیشہ فارن آفس کی تحویل میں رہتا ہے اور اِس بات کی تصدیق سابق وزیرِ داخلہ رانا ثنا کرچُکے ہیں، اُنکا بیان سوشل میڈیا پر موجود ہے کہ ”سائفر تو ہمارے پاس ہے“ تو اگر وہ اصلی دستاویز آپکے پاس ہے تو مقدمہ کِس بات کا ہے؟“
بیرسٹر سلمان… pic.twitter.com/pIbDX9aeB1— PTI Islamabad (@PTIOfficialISB) August 30, 2023
Talking to the media, Safdar said he met Imran, who was in “high spirits” and was “positive”. He added that the PTI chief gave him a briefing for 15 minutes detailing his stance on the cypher case.
The barrister asserted that proceedings under the Secrets Act were “reserved for the armed forces regarding internal matters, such as spying [and] mapping”. He termed the prosecution of a former premier and a former foreign minister (Qureshi) as “highly condemnable and very concerning”.
He said that no one in the PTI’s legal team or even Imran himself knew that he had been detained on judicial remand in the cipher case “for the past 15 days, when the FIA had requested for his physical remand but it was rejected”.
He then confirmed that the special court will hear the bail plea on Saturday and that the court also issued notices to the FIA on two other petitions — one challenging the trial of Imran in the cipher case and the second requesting an open hearing of the case.
Presenting Imran’s stance on the cipher case, Safdar stated that former interior minister Rana Sanaullah had admitted on social media that the original cypher was with them. “The FIA has also admitted that the original document of the cipher is with the Foreign Office,” he added.
Referring to the two meetings held by the then cabinet, the lawyer asserted that the cypher’s contents were discussed there and the then government had “declassified the cypher and the minutes of that meeting are with the Cabinet Division”.
“The day the cipher was declassified, it no longer remained an official secret,” he said, asking for what purpose then was this case for.
