By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: A special court on Wednesday indicted former prime minister Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi for a second time on charges of violating the Official Secrets Act, a colonial-era law that carries the death penalty.
The two opposition leaders of Pakistan Takreek-e-Insaf party are accused of misusing a secret diplomatic document that allegedly threatened Khan’s government in 2022.
They pleaded not guilty and accused the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of pursuing a political vendetta against them. They also alleged that the case was part of a conspiracy by the United States and the Pakistani military establishment to remove them from power.
The case, known as the cipher case, revolves around a document that Khan claimed to have received from the US in March, warning him of a possible removal on his increasingly close ties with Russia following Ukraine invasion.
Khan is also accused of never returning the document and waved it at a public rally to expose the pressure he was facing.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which is prosecuting the case, said Khan and Qureshi misused the cipher, a code used for diplomatic communication, for their own personal interests and endangered national security.
The indictment came after the Islamabad High Court last month quashed the previous proceedings and ordered a fresh trial at the Adiala Jail, where Khan and Qureshi are being held. The court also allowed the trial to be open to the public and the media, after the defense lawyers challenged the government’s notification for a jail trial.
The hearing on Wednesday was attended by Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, his sisters, Qureshi’s family, and FIA Special Prosecutor Zulfiqar Abbas Naqvi. The judge read out the two-page charge sheet and asked the prosecution to present its evidence.
Qureshi maintained his innocence and said he had dealt with hundreds of ciphers during his tenure as the foreign minister, but the one in question was unique and hidden from him.
He said there must be some reason for keeping it secret and demanded a fair trial.
Khan, on the other hand, challenged the court’s authority and said he had done nothing wrong by exposing the domestic and foreign establishment.
Former prime minister said he was not afraid of the death penalty and insisted that the cipher was written to topple his government. “There is a conspiracy within the cipher which is being hidden,” he said.
“How can there be a fair trial when the media is being muzzled? If a fair trial is not conducted, the responsibility will lie with you (judge) for the rest of your life.”
The judge admonished Khan for his tone and reminded him that this was a court of law.
The hearing was adjourned until Friday.
Naqvi, the FIA prosecutor, told the media outside the court that the charges had been framed against Khan and Qureshi and the prosecution would present its witnesses and evidence on Friday. However, the ex-cricket star’s lawyer said that charges against Khan were not framed during a hearing of the case.
“Neither a charge was framed nor was Imran Khan’s signature obtained [on the charge sheet] for the indictment,” media quoted Khan’s lawyer Barrister Salman Safdar as saying after the hearing concluded.
“This is not an open trial as directed by Islamabad High Court as journalists were not allowed inside the prison to cover the proceedings.”
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