ISLAMABAD: The Islam­abad High Court (IHC) on Friday issued notices to relevant authorities on a petition filed aga­inst the trial of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan in cipher case at Attock jail.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq on the petition issued notices to the secretaries of law and interior, FIA director general, the Islamabad chief commissioner, deputy commissioner and inspector general of police and the Adiala and Attock jail superintendents.

The petition challenged the law ministry’s notification allowing the trial of the PTI chief at the Attock jail.

The law ministry last month designated Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain as the judge of the Special Court to try suspects under the Official Secrets Act.

The petition said that the special court judge lacked the essential qualification needed for the role, citing the qualification of an ATC judge had been defined under Section 13(2) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

ATC dismisses Qureshi’s bail application

“Therefore, reducing the rank and status of learned administrative judge of the ATC, Islam­abad, to the status of a magistrate is a mockery of the law and void-ab-initio,” it said.

It went on to state that an ATC judge was defined under Sections 13 (establishment of ATC) and 14 (composition and appointment of presiding officers of ATCs) of the ATA, according to which, the presiding judge of an ATC, “under no stretch of imagination, could be a magistrate”.

The petition further said that the appointment was contrary to the law and “void-ab-initio” as the special court judge was not a magistrate under section 4(m-a) of the CrPC, which defines a magistrate.

Giving details of the grounds against moving of the special court to the Attock jail, the plea said the production order issued by the judge was a “judicial order, which has neither been recalled nor reviewed” by the court concerned.

It added that the respo­n­dents were not vested with any such powers under Section 9(2) (court of session) of the CrPC. Citing the “security concerns” co­n­veyed by the interior ministry, the petition arg­ued that the “respondents never considered allowing Mr Khan to appear before any Islamabad court via the video link when he himself expressed similar concerns”.

“The claim in the name of security is farce, false and misguiding,” it said, while terming the notification bereft of reasoning and logic.

The petition further said that the cipher case was at its pre-trial stage, at which the venue of the trial could not be changed. It added that the law ministry had no authority to extend its jurisdiction to Punjab and determine a venue that does not lie within the federal government’s administrative control.

Qureshi’s plea dismissed

Also on Friday, an anti-terrorism court dismissed PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s application for pre-arrest bail in two cases.

After hearing arguments from both sides, Judge Zulqarnain dismissed the interim bail plea in two cases registered against him at the Kahna police station over a no-show.

The counsel for Mr Qureshi had filed two different pleas seeking a day exemption from court appearance and a summon notice for his client as currently he is in jail in a cipher case. He also moved the court to extend Mr Qureshi’s interim bail.

He said if his client was intentionally absent, only then the bail plea could be dismissed. However, the prosecutor said the Supreme Court has made the presence of the accused for bail before arrest mandatory.

The court rejected Mr Qureshi’s interim bail plea and also dismissed pleas seeking exemption and summon. It said that the law requires the presence of the accused for bail before arrest.

The former minister is currently in Adiala jail on a judicial remand in the missing cipher case registered under the Official Secrets Act, 1923.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2023