ISLAMABAD: The counsel for former premier Imran Khan on Monday termed the cipher case “one of the most expensive cases in Pakistan’s history” as witnesses were even brought in from abroad at every hearing.

Barrister Salman Safdar stated this as he continued his arguments in the appeal against the conviction of Mr Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi for 6th day on Monday before a division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb.

He said some witnesses were working in foreign missions and they were brought to record their testimony before the investigation team and the court on a number of occasions, resulting in huge money being spent by the state on their travel expenses.

Barrister Safdar described the cipher case as one of the most expensive cases of the country.

Imran’s lawyer says original copy of cable is with Foreign Office; PTI expresses lack of trust in Justice Farooq

During the course of arguments, the counsel claimed that the original cipher was still with the Foreign Office. He read out the testimonies of the custodian of the record at the Foreign Office to substantiate his claim.

He said the officials concerned during the cross-examination had explained that the cipher was received from Pakistan mission in Washington and they decoded the original encrypted message, prepared copies for the authorised persons and transmitted the same to them.

The copy sent to Mr Khan, however, never returned, the prosecution has stated.

“It means the original cipher is still with the foreign ministry?” inquired Justice Aurangzeb.

Justice Farooq inquired if the copies sent to the authorised officials were treated as original. He also sought assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the mechanism of dealing with sensitive diplomatic cables.

Barrister Safdar argued that the custodian of the record during the cross-examination had further revealed that the cipher sent to then-army chief Qamar Bajwa returned after a very long time.

Last week, the court directed the superintendent of Adiala jail to submit the record of visits by advocate Abdul Rehman, who had cross-examined the witnesses on behalf of Mr Khan and Mr Qureshi.

The court was informed that the record had not been submitted.

The CJ expressed displeasure and summoned Advocate General Ayaz Shaukat. The court directed him to appear on each and every date of hearing.

The jail authorities submitted the report when the court was about to rise.

CJ Farooq reminded them that they were not appearing before a civil court as there is a proper mechanism of filing reports/comments which needed to be adhered to.

The hearing was adjourned to Tuesday (today).

Recusal sought

Meanwhile, the PTI Core Committee expressed no confidence in Chief Justice Farooq, demanding his recusal in cases related to party’s founding chairman Imran Khan.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad after a core committee meeting, PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan said the core committee expressed serious reservations over the conduct of the IHC chief justice, who heard all cases involving Imran Khan despite their concerns.

He said the committee requested Justice Farooq to not become part of any bench hearing cases of Imran Khan.

He pointed out that core committee was very concerned about the slow pace of hearing in the cases against Imran Khan, alleging that the government was making all-out efforts to delay the decisions.

Moreover, he said, they had decided to register FIRs against PML-N leaders Rana Sanaullah and Marriyum Aurangzeb, adding that some people had attempted to register a case on Monday, but police had obstructed them.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Hasan pointed out that Mr Sanaullah in his three interviews had allegedly said that Imran Khan has to be eliminated, while Ms Aurangzeb was also giving similar statements. He said it was unfortunate that the FIRs were not being registered.

He said if the police did not change their attitude, then they would move courts in this regard.

Ikram Junaidi also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2024