Ex-PM deliberately kept cypher copy, IHC told

The Islamabad High Court was informed on Thursday that the cipher copy was returned by all the recipients except the then-prime minister Imran Khan, who lost the document therefore the case was lodged against him.

During the hearing of appeals of Imran and then foreign minister Shah Muhammad Qureshi in the cipher case, the prosecutor urged the two-member bench, comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb to see whether or not the cipher copy had reached the accused.

The cipher case originated from Imran Khan's public display of a paper during a rally in Islamabad on March 27, 2022, claiming it as evidence of an "international conspiracy" before a vote of no-confidence led to his government's ouster.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) initiated its probe into the so-called “cipher-gate” on July 19, 2023, after the previous coalition government announced an official inquiry against Imran and his close associates for violating the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

Imran was arrested on August 5, following his conviction in the Toshakhana case by a local court of Islamabad. Later, he was also arrested in the cipher case on August 29. On January 30, a special court convicted Imran and Qureshi and sentenced each of them to 10 years in prison under the OSA.

During the hearing of the appeals in the IHC, the bench raised the question that when the cipher case was registered, many other people also did not return the copies. Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Special Prosecutor Hamid Ali Shah replied the rest of the officials had returned the cipher copies.

Regarding the former prime minister, the prosecutor said that the authorities knew that he had lost the cipher copy. The former prime minister deliberately kept the cipher copy and negligently did not return it, the prosecutor argued.

The chief justice pointed out that the charges of not returning the cipher copy wilfully and its negligent loss could not be made simultaneously. Special Prosecutor Shah said that when the cipher came to the then-prime minister, he deliberately kept it to himself and showed negligence by not returning it.

About the prosecution’s charge that said that Imran made the cipher public, the chief justice inquired as to what was made public, saying that the cipher was not on the court record. Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb asked as to where the recipient of the cipher document was.

The FIA prosecutor said that he would assist the court on this point later. However, he stressed that the cipher was a classified document, entailing accountability. He added that the cipher copy was sent so that he read this document and instructed about necessary action.

The FIA prosecutor told the court that he would complete his arguments in three to four hearings. After which the hearing was adjourned till April 30.