Qureshi remanded in FIA custody

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday acquired a one-day physical remand of PTI Vice Chairman and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cypher case.

The PTI stalwart, who was arrested from Islamabad shortly after a news conference on Saturday, would be produced before a relevant court on Monday (today).

He was presented before a sessions court headed by duty judge Ehtasham Alam. The judge declared Qureshi’s remand hearing in-camera.

Meanwhile, the FIA denied having arrested PTI leader and former federal minister Asad Umar.

Senior officials of the FIA told The Express Tribune that Umar was not in their custody.

Umar and Qureshi’s role in the cypher case would be determined during the investigation, they added.

The FIA arrested Qureshi in the cypher leak case under the Official Secrets Act, 1923 from his residence in the federal capital.

The agency had booked former premier Imran Khan and Qureshi among others for “wrongful use” of official secret information and illegal retention of the cypher telegram – an official secret document – with malafide intention.

The FIR No 6/2023 read that the role of the former prime minister’s principal secretary Azam Khan, ex-planning minister Asad Umar, and others associates involved would be determined during the course of investigations.

The counter-terrorism wing (CTW) of the FIA had registered a case under sections 5 (wrongful communication, etc, of information) and 9 (attempts, incitements, etc) of the Official Secrets Act of 1923 read with Section 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of then Interior Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar in Islamabad.

The FIR revealed that the case had been registered upon the conclusion of an enquiry No111/2023 dated Oct 5, 2022 registered in the FIA’s CTW.

It read that Imran, Qureshi, and their associates were involved in communication of information contained in a secret classified document – a cypher telegram received from Parep Washington dated March 7, 2022 by the foreign affairs secretary – to unauthorised persons (public at large) by “twisting the facts to achieve their ulterior motives and personal gains in a manner prejudicial to the interests of state security”.

Azam Khan’s statement was recorded under Section 161 on Wednesday.

After the Toshakhana case, Azam’s statement was also recorded in the cypher issue, following which the FIA's CTW proceeded to make arrests under the Official Secrets Act.

Last month, Azam appeared as a witness before the National Accountability Bureau to assist it in its probe over the £190 million settlement case against the PTI chief.