ISLAMABAD: A special court established under the Official Secrets Act on Friday deferred hearing of the cypher case against PTI chairman and senior party leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi without any proceedings at Adiala Jail.
Special court judge Abul Hasnaat Zulqarnain conducted hearing of the case at Adiala Jail and both PTI chairman and vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi were brought to courtroom.
FIA prosecutor Zulfiqar Naqvi, Shah Khawar and Rizwan Abbasi appeared before court while Salman Safdar, Ali Gohar and Umair Niazi represented the PTI chairman. Wife and daughter of PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi were also present in court during the hearing.
Taimur Malik and Faiza Shah appeared in the court on behalf of Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Due to absence of defence counsels statements of the prosecution witnesses could not be recorded. The court while, summoning three more witnesses, adjourned hearing of the case till November 14.
Earlier, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had adjourned the bail application hearing of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Vice Chairman, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in the cypher case till Wednesday. The IHC Chief Justice Aamir Farooq heard the bail application on Tuesday and adjourned the case due to absence of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Prosecutor Shah Khawar.
The FIA prosecutor’s assistant appeared before the court and informed the judge that Mr Khawar is busy with hearing of a case in the Supreme Court. Advocate Ali Bukhari, counsel for Mr Qureshi requested the court to reschedule the case hearing for 2 O’clock, however, the judge turned down his request and adjourned the case for tomorrow.
