Special court judge Abual Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain orders to present Chairman PTI, Vice Chairman PTI in Cipher case on Oct 4
ISLAMABAD ( Web News )
A special court established under the Official Secrets Act has summoned jailed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi on October 4 in the cipher case.
The development came two days after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) submitted the challan (charge sheet) in the cipher case against the PTI leaders.
Special court judge Abual Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain issued notices to respondents saying that statements of witnesses are sufficient to summon the accused in the court.
The judge directed the superintendent of Adiala jail to present the PTI leaders before the court on October 4 (Wednesday).
The FIA, in its challan, stated that the former prime minister and the former foreign minister were found guilty in the matter and requested the court to conduct their trial and sentence them in the case.
According to sources of a private TV channel, former PTI secretary-general Asad Umar’s name was not added to the list of accused. Meanwhile, Imran Khan’s former principal secretary Muhammad Azam Khan was named as a “strong witness” in the case.
The FIA also attached Azam Khan’s statements, recorded under Sections 161 and 164, along with the challan, said the sources, adding that the PTI chief kept the cipher to himself and misused the state secret.
The sources also said that Imran Khan had a copy of the cipher but he did not return it.
Moreover, the FIA also attached the transcript of Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s speech on March 27 — the day when the former premier brandished a letter claiming it was a cipher from a foreign nation, which wanted his government to be removed from power.
The agency also submitted a list of 28 witnesses to the court with the challan after recording their statements under Section 161.
Sources further revealed that the names of former foreign secretaries Dr. Asad Majeed Khan, Sohail Mehmood and the then additional foreign secretary Faisal Niaz Tirmizi have also been added to the list of witnesses.
On September 26, the special court extended the judicial remand of the PTI chairman and vice-chairman till October 10 in the cipher case.