Pak court clubs ex-PM Imran's pleas against cipher case, trial court proceedings

ISLAMABAD: A top Pakistani court on Thursday combined jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s separate petitions seeking to stay the trial court proceedings in the cipher case and dismiss the case altogether.

The cipher case pertains to a diplomatic document (cipher) that reportedly went missing from Khan’s possession. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief repeatedly said before and after the no-confidence motion against him last year that the cipher pointed to a conspiracy to remove him from the prime minister’s office.

Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamer Farooq took up a separate plea seeking the stay of Khan's trial in the cipher case and clubbed it with the main plea, under which the 71-year-old former premier has sought the dismissal of the case and a date be fixed for hearing.

Khan has filed several petitions in the IHC, including one seeking to stay his jail trial in the cipher case, another seeking to suspend the Toshakhana verdict, and a third against his indictment in the cipher case, which is set for October 17.

Senior lawyer Sardar Latif Khosa appeared as Khan’s counsel and informed the court that the pleas were seeking the stay of the trial court proceedings and challenging the special court’s order of indictment, the Dawn newspaper reported.

He further said that the matter was pending before the IHC and a verdict had been reserved, adding that the Lahore High Court has also issued a stay order in a case by the Federal Investigation Agency, the report said.

“My client is a national hero and the world knows and believes that. Now, he is in jail [while] innocent,” Khosa asserted.

Justice Farooq then asked him if the separate plea should be combined with that seeking dismissal of the case, to which Khosa agreed on the condition that it would be fixed before October 17, the report said.

When Justice Farooq inquired what would happen on October 17, the counsel replied, “There would be great unpleasantness on October 17. A trial is underway. Indictment is to take place.” The chief justice then observed that he would review the matter and issue an order, assuring that the pleas would be fixed for hearing before October 17.

Khan was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison in the Toshakhana graft case on August 5. He was subsequently shifted to Attock jail, but the IHC later suspended his sentence. However, he remained in jail because he was on judicial remand in the cipher case.

On September 30, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) submitted a charge sheet in the Special Court established under the Official Secrets Act, naming Khan and his key ally and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi as the principal accused in the cipher case.

Meanwhile, Khan has urged his supporters to ‘not give up’, and demanded fair polls.

He reiterated that he would not leave Pakistan “to go anywhere” and demanded fair and free elections.

In a message posted on his X account, he said he would not “back down even an inch from the quest of Haqeeqi Azadi, for the upholding of the rule of law and the Constitution of Pakistan, at the core of which is free and fair elections”.

Speaking about the cipher case against him, the PTI chief alleged that “treason was committed” against him and his government by former army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and US diplomat Donald Lu.