ISLAMABAD: A special court set up under the amended Official Secrets Act on Thursday dismissed bail pleas of former prime minister Imran Khan and PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi, observing there was overwhelming evidence on record to connect both suspects to allegations made in the cipher case.

Judge Abual Hasnat Mohammad Zulqarnain in the order stated: “Perusal of the record transpires that accused/petitioners namely Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi and Shah Mehmood Qureshi are nominated in FIR with their respective roles. Sufficient incriminating material is available on record to connect the accused/petitioners with the instant case.

“Record further depicts that there appear reasonable grounds for believing that accused/petitioners are guilty of offence under sections 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act.”

Section 5 is related to the wrongful communication of confidential information and section 9 is about an attempt to commit or abet the commission of an offence under the Secrets Act. “The record…is sufficient for the purpose of discarding the bails of both the accused/petitioners,” ruled the court.

Judge says ‘overwhelming’ evidence exists to connect PTI leaders to offence

‘Political victimisation’

During the final arguments, defence counsel Barrister Salman Safdar contended that the PTI chief was 75 years old and added the PTI chairman was being subjected to political victimisation. He stated that Mr Khan faced 180 criminal cases; however, the cipher case was registered after other cases against Mr Khan turned out to be “baseless and frivolous”. He pointed out that the Official Secrets Act could have been invoked in case Mr Khan would share the confidential information with an “enemy state”.

He argued that the investigation agency could not recover anything from Mr Khan. The counsel recollected that the cipher issue had also been thrashed out by the National Security Committee after which a demarche was also sent. The lawyer stated that the then government de-classified the cipher to share it with certain quarters, including the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP).

According to him, the CJP conducted a hearing in which “the cipher was comprehensively discussed throughout the proceedings and in observations no wrongful doing was identified nor any investigation agency was directed to register a case”.

‘Inordinate delay’

Advocate Babar Awan, who was representing PTI leader Qureshi pointed out that the FIR was registered in the cipher case after an “inordinate delay”. “This period stretches upon ten months,” he added.

Mr Awan argued that neither the armed forces nor the National Security Division become the complainant in this matter despite the fact that they are the key stakeholders due to national security. He went on to state that the cipher was handed over to then principal secretary Azam Khan who has not been arrested even though he was nominated in the case. Mr Awan asked the judge to grant bail since the case required further probe.

The special prosecutor opposed the bail plea and said that there was no need for further inquiry as the statements recorded by the investigation agency connected the suspects with the offence.

Not in Islamabad police custody

Meanwhile, the legal adviser of the Islamabad police informed the IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri that Imran Khan has not been taken in custody in about three dozen cases registered in Islamabad.

The bench was hearing the petition of Mr Khan filed against the dismissal of his petitions seeking pre-arrest bail in nine cases registered in the capital.

He informed the court that the special public prosecutor appointed for this particular petition did not receive any notice from the court. Mr Khan’s counsel requested the court to restrain the police from arresting the PTI chief till the adjudication of the case. The bench declined the request and adjourned further hearing till next Thursday.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2023