- The court seeks a response from the FIA on the extent of the PTI chief’s arrest.
- Khan’s bail plea was rejected by a special court last week.
- The IHC CJ case will be decided according to the proper procedure.
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Monday issued notice to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s petition seeking post-arrest bail in the cipher case.
The court notices came during the hearing of Khan’s bail petition challenging the special court’s decision in the said case last week. The statement was submitted by the PTI president on Saturday and was fixed for hearing today.
The special court, set up under the Official Secrets Act, had rejected the bail applications of Khan and his party vice-president Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the missing key case.
IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq issued notices in response to the plea filed by advocate Salman Safdar on behalf of the PTI chief.
The PTI chief’s legal team repeatedly urged for an early hearing of the case, following which the IHC chief justice emphasized that there is a proper procedure and the case will be decided accordingly.
The FIA has been ordered to submit its response to the PTI chief’s petition.
Khan and Qureshi are on judicial remand in the encryption case until September 26.
Last month, the FIA charged the PTI chief and his party’s vice president under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly misplacing and misusing the classified document for vested political interests.
Both leaders were subsequently arrested in connection with the investigation into the case and a special court was set up under the Official Secrets Act to try the accused.
Encryption
Controversy first arose on March 27, 2022, when Khan, just days before his overthrow in April 2022, brandished a letter, claiming to be a cipher from a foreign nation, which mentioned that his government should be removed. power.
He did not reveal the contents of the letter nor mention the name of the nation that had sent it. But a few days later, he named the United States and said that Undersecretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu had requested his removal.
The figure referred to the meeting of former Pakistani ambassador to the United States, Asad Majeed, with Lu.
The former prime minister, claiming that he was reading the contents of the cipher, said that “for Pakistan all will be forgiven if Imran Khan is removed from power.”
Then on March 31, the National Security Committee (NSC) took up the matter and decided to issue a “strong representation” to the country for its “flagrant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan.”
Later, after his dismissal, Khan’s successor Shehbaz Sharif convened another meeting of the NSC, which concluded that it had found no evidence of a foreign conspiracy in the code.
The encryption case against the former prime minister turned serious after his principal secretary, Azam Khan, testified before a magistrate and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that the former prime minister had used US encryption for his “political gains.” “and to avoid a vote of no confidence against him.
The former bureaucrat, in his confession, said that when he provided the code to the former prime minister, he was “elated” and called the language an “American mistake.” The former prime minister, according to Azam, then said that the cable could be used to “create a narrative against the establishment and the opposition.”
Azam said the PTI chairman used US encryption in political meetings, despite his advice to avoid such acts. He mentioned that the former prime minister also told him that the figure could be used to divert public attention to “foreign participation” in the opposition’s no-confidence motion.