ISLAMABAD: The courtroom at Adiala Jail on Saturday witnessed a bizarre situation when the Special Court (Official Secrets Act) appointed defence counsel for former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi amid strong protest by the two PTI leaders.

The move came as the lawyers representing Mr Khan and Mr Qureshi were not available for cross-examination of witnesses in the cipher case.

Judge Abual Hasnat Mohammad Zulqarnain appointed Abdul Rehman and Hazrat Younis as defence counsel for both the PTI leaders. They concluded the cross-examination of 10 prosecution witnesses amid protest by Mr Khan and Mr Qureshi who expressed no confidence in the counsel.

Since the prosecution has so far produced 25 witnesses and four of them have been examined, the court has summoned the remaining witnesses on Jan 29.

The names of the state counsel were provided by the advocate general for Islamabad in response to an email sent to him on the order of the court as the lawyers of Mr Khan and Mr Qureshi could not appear even after a brief adjournment on Saturday.

PTI founder describes the court-appointed lawyers as ‘intruders’; terms proceedings ‘fixed match’

When Mr Younis handed over the file to Mr Qureshi, the latter threw it away and asked the judge to straightaway announce the verdict without “pretending the fair trial” and termed the proceedings mockery of justice.

He pointed out that for the last three months he has been seeking permission to hold a meeting with his legal team.

The judge reminded Mr Qureshi that he had allowed 75 applications of the accused persons and also granted permission for meetings with the lawyers.

Mr Qureshi claimed that the jail administration had never facilitated his legal team despite the court orders.

The judge told Mr Khan and Mr Qureshi that they could cross-examine the witnesses if they wanted to do so. He cited an order of the Supreme Court and said that the apex court had granted bail to them subject to the satisfaction of the trial court.

Mr Qureshi said police did not honour the bail order and arrested him the next day after he secured the bail in the cipher case.

His counsel Usman Gill told the court that anchorperson Najam Sethi had in a TV show claimed that the ‘cipher court’ would announce its verdict on Feb 5 and demanded that he be summoned.

Judge Zulqarnain said he would have trust in court rather than the comment of a TV anchor.

Imran Khan described the court-app­o­i­nted counsel as “intruders” and asked the judge to evict them from the courtroom.

Talking to media persons, Mr Khan said the state machinery was denying the fundamental rights as it resorted to the worst-ever crackdown on people. He said that since his lawyers are contesting the elections, they could not appear before the court and the judge appointed the state counsel for cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses.

Mr Khan, however, said his legal team would appear before the court at the next hearing. He termed the proceedings in all cases against him a “fixed match”, saying the judge, jury and prosecution all are on the same page.

He also referred to Najam Sethi’s prediction that the court would convict him and Mr Qureshi before Feb 5. He demanded that Mr Sethi be summoned to explain from where he got such information, though everyone knows his sources.

He pointed out that while his trial was being conducted on a daily basis, the judiciary appeared to be nice to PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif as he was getting relief after relief.

He said the PTI believes in the people’s power, whereas Mr Sharif has faith in “Vigo vehicles”.

When asked why he was not asking President Dr Arif Alvi, who is a PTI leader, for mediation, Mr Khan said nobody would listen to his advice.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2024