Court orders to present Imran Khan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi in cypher case on Nov 28

ISLAMABAD: A special court on Thursday ordered to present former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi before it in the cypher case on November 28, Pakistan-based ARY News reported.

Judge Abu Alhasnaat Zulqurnain presided over the hearing. After the Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued orders, the cypher case hearing took place at the Judicial Complex in G-11. For the hearing, lawyers Ali Bukhari and Khalid Yousaf appeared before the court, according to ARY News report.

During the hearing, the judge asked for a copy of the Islamabad High Court's divisional bench. Later, the court adjourned the hearing and ordered the jail authorities to present Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi before the court on November 28. On November 21, the Islamabad High Court called the jail trial of cypher case illegal.

The court had declared proceedings that took place since August 29 to be illegal, including the indictment, ARY News reported. It further said that the notification released by the law ministry on August 29 to permit the jail trial to be "without lawful authority and no legal effect."

The first information report (FIR) was lodged on August 15 under the Official Secrets Act. The FIR was lodged after the Home Secretary's complaint, ARY News reported. Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi were nominated in the report. The names of former principal secretary Azam Khan and former planning minister Asad Umar were also included in the report.

According to the FIR, Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi distorted the facts of the cypher. It further said, "A conspiracy was launched to misuse the contents of the cypher to fulfill nefarious purposes."

The FIR said that Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi endanger the interests of the state. Last week, an accountability court remanded Imran Khan to NAB custody for four days in the Al-Qadir Trust case, Pakistan-based Dawn reported. The court also extended the pre-arrest interim bail of his wife, Bushra Bibi, in the same case and the Toshakhana case, till November 21.

When Judge Mohammad Bashir resumed hearing the bail petitions of Bushra Bibi in the Federal Judicial Complex, he was told that the petitioner and her lawyer, Sardar Latif Khan Khosa, were both in Adiala Jail for a meeting with Imran Khan, according to Dawn report. The hearing of Imran Khan's case took place in Adiala Jail, Dawn reported.

During the hearing, NAB's deputy prosecutor general Sardar Muzaffar Khan Abbasi presented the application seeking a 10-day physical remand for Imran Khan. However, the judge approved a four-day physical remand of Imran Khan.