The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday rejected PTI chairman and deposed premier Imran Khan's petitions seeking post-arrest bail in the cipher case and the dismissal of its first information report (FIR).
The court observed that prime facie, Section 5(1)(a) (wrongful communication, etc of information) of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 was applicable against the PTI chairman and he was not exempted from the process as a former premier.
It also ruled that the PTI chief, in his capacity as the prime minister, was also not authorised to declassify the diplomatic cipher.
The court noted that according to the prosecution, the cipher was in the possession of the PTI chairman.
It added that there was no doubt that there was all the documentary evidence against Imran and bail could not begranted to someone facing “serious charges”.
On Sept 30 this year, the FIA submitted its charge-sheet to a special court formed under the Official Secrets Act, 1923.
It claimed in the charge-sheet that Imran had violated the Official Secrets Act by unlawfully keeping a diplomatic cipher in his possession. The agency also accused PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi of facilitating Imran while also mentioning his March 27, 2022 speech at a public rally in Islamabad.
Imran had taken out a piece of paper – allegedly the diplomatic cipher – from his pocket and displayed it at that rally, claiming that it was evidence of an "international conspiracy" to topple his government.
Read Imran, Qureshi indicted in cypher case
A day earlier, the IHC rejected the PTI chief’s request to stop the cipher case trial, being conducted by the special court, and reserved its ruling on his bail application.
On Friday, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq announced the reserved verdict, wherein he declared both the petitions as “without merit” and “accordingly dismissed” them.
It read that the petitioner had the “efficacious and alternate remedy by way of moving an appropriate application” under Section 249-A (power of magistrate to acquit accused at any stage) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) as far as the dismissal of the FIR was concerned.
“Moreover, the petitioner is [a] co-accused in the case and even if the arguments advanced for [the] quashment of [the] FIR on his behalf are accepted, [the] FIR cannot be quashed in as much as there are other co-accused and there cannot be a partial quashing of [the] FIR,” the verdict added.
The verdict read that Imran, while addressing the rally (in March last year), “was not doing so pursuant to the performance of his duties as [the] prime minister, rather it was a political engagement”.
The judgment, while referring to an earlier Supreme Court verdict, stated that it showed that “[the] contents of [the] cipher were such that they only called for [a] demarche and not any further strict action, as there was no conspiracy of any kind”.
In a related development, the special court allowed the Rawalpindi police to interrogate Imran and Qureshi in the cases filed in connection with the May 9 riots earlier this year triggered by the deposed premier’s arrest.
The Rawalpindi police appeared before Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain and apprised him that they wanted to interrogate the two PTI leaders inside Adiala Jail.
When the judge asked them whether or not the two PTI leaders had been included in the investigation, the Rawalpindi police replied in the negative.
Read more IHC allows lawyers to meet PTI chief in jail
However, they apprised the judge that they also had an FIA report on the May 9 incidents in Rawalpindi.
The judge after examining the cases registered against the PTI leader allowed the Rawalpindi police to interrogate them but reminded them that under the law, they could only question them.
The Gujranwala police too appeared before the judge and sought permission to question the PTI leaders, saying that a case was registered against them in their jurisdiction as well.
However, their request was denied when they apprised the judge that they did not have an FIA report on the matter and they were relying on a social media account’s data.
Adiala Jail sources told The Express Tribune that after receiving permission from a local court, two officers of the Faisalabad police had reached the prison and started questioning Imran and Qureshi separately in connection with the May 9 riots.
They added that both the officers were members of a joint investigation team (JIT) formed to probe into the May 9 mayhem.
However, the PTI chief refused to respond to the queries of the police teams from Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, and Kasur without the presence of his lawyers.
The Rawalpindi police managed to question Qureshi in connection with various cases. The three police teams returned after that.
Earlier, while speaking outside the IHC, Imran’s sister, Aleema Khan, pledged to stand by her brother and not leave him alone.
“If there is no court in Pakistan that can give justice to the PTI chairman, we too should sit inside with him in jail,” she said.
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