- Requests court to summon President to testify whether or not he had signed act
- PTI counsel claims only three journalists allowed to cover jail trial
RAWALPINDI: The Special Court hearing Cypher case resumed hearing on Saturday in Adiala jail and both Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi were present along with their family members and lawyers.
As proceedings began in Adiala Jail, former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi questioned legitimacy of the act they were being tried under and maintained that even the president was oblivious to it.
He urged the special court to summon President Arif Alvi to testify regarding changes to the Official Secrets Act.
The cypher case pertains to a diplomatic document that the Federal Investigation Agency’s charge sheet alleges was never returned by Imran. The PTI has long held that the document contained a threat from the United States to oust Imran as prime minister.
The then Premier Imran Khan had waved the document at a public rally in March last year, terming it evidence of a foreign conspiracy behind the no-confidence motion he faced at that time. The motion was carried a few weeks later and Imran’s government ended.
Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain presided over the hearing of the cypher case, which was attended by Bushra Bibi, Imran’s sisters, Qureshi’s daughter Mehr Bano and son Zain Qureshi.
Questioning the ambiguity of the act, the former foreign minister asked the judge whether the trial was being conducted under the Official Secret Acts 1923 or 2023.
Requesting the court to summon the president to take an oath on whether he approved the bill, he requested: “If not Imran Khan’s, at least conduct my trial outside the jail in the open court”.
To this, the court responded that both cases are interlinked and therefore, cannot be separated.
The former chairman of PTI informed the courtroom that as the prime minister, he had ordered an inquiry into this matter. “People involved in this case are quite powerful and efforts are being made to save them”, he claimed and added: “I fear no one but, Allah”.
Imran also claimed that they were being ‘caged like goats’ while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Supremo Nawaz Sharif was treated differently
The court said that copies of the challan would be distributed to the accused at the next hearing.
It should be noted that today, while PTI counsel was raising objections over the presence of the ‘unknown persons’, the judge asked them to maintain silence.
The hearing was then adjourned till December 4.
‘Journalists not allowed to attend’
Speaking to the media after the day’s proceedings, PTI lawyers claimed that Imran, while twice requesting the boycott of the trial, protested that the trial was not being conducted fairly. They also added that more than 50 journalists were not allowed to attend the proceedings and only three were allowed allowed inside Adiala jail.
The counsel further added that only 10 civilians were ‘planted’ to hear the trial. They contended that in no way was the hearing an ‘open trial’ and it was a violation of Islamabad High Court (IHC) orders.
At the previous hearing, the special court ordered that whoever wished to attend the hearing, including journalists, would not be stopped.
Earlier this week, Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain had ruled that the trial proceedings would continue at the Adiala jail but in an open court. As per the special court’s orders, those who wished to attend the proceedings were not to be stopped from doing so and journalists were also to be permitted to witness the trial. The judge had also assured the PTI lawyers of the same during yesterday’s hearing. On Saturday, however, jail authorities prevented media workers from entering the jail, with a huge number of local and international journalists outside the jail when the hearing began. At around 10:15am, only two media workers were allowed to enter the jail but it remains unclear if they were able to attend the hearing.
