Cipher case: Govt to review detailed IHC verdict before deciding to appeal

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Monday asserted that it would decide whether to challenge the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) verdict, acquitting PTI founder Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in cipher case, once the detailed court order is out, ARY News reported.

Barrister Aqeel Malik, the government’s spokesperson for legal affairs, made these remarks while addressing a press conference shortly after IHC announced the short verdict by accepting the appeals of the former premier and diplomat against their convictions in the cipher case.

Addressing a press conference, Barrister Aqeel pointed out that cipher is a reality and it can’t be denied that a national security document was exaggerated and used for political purposes.

“PTI founder [Imran Khan] waved a confidential Pakistani document [cipher] at a political rally and used it for his political purposes,” he said.

He further said that this also cannot be denied that a cipher copy is missing and that copy, former principal secretary to the prime minister Azam Khan has “recorded in his statement that it is missing and was not returned to the foreign ministry”.

“Nothing is more important than our national security. The prosecution will decide on challenging the IHC’s ruling in Supreme Court after the issuance of a detailed verdict,” Barrister Aqeel said.

Malik also urged that the courts to never ignore the national security’s aspect in any case and the cipher case should be sent for retrial. He clarified that both the accused were not sentenced “at the behest of any individual”.

The spokesperson clarified that the government accepted the verdicts of the courts and never criticised the judiciary unlike a certain political party which continued to “malign the honourable judges”.

Cipher case

On January 30, a special court hearing cipher case handed a 10-year jail term, each, to former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Both the PTI leaders were accused of conspiracy to misuse the contents of the cipher to fulfill nefarious purposes.

The court in its verdict said the prosecution had enough evidence to prove the charges against the former prime minister and ex-foreign minister.

The first information report (FIR) was registered on August 15 under the Official Secrets Act. It was registered on the complaint of the Home Secretary.

Former prime minister Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were nominated in the report, while names of former principal secretary Azam Khan and former planning minister Asad Umar were also mentioned.

The FIR stated that the former prime minister and foreign minister distorted the facts of the diplomatic cipher. “A conspiracy was launched to misuse the contents of the cipher to fulfill nefarious purposes”, it added. It further stated that former premier and top diplomat endangered the state interests.

The report claimed that former prime minister asked Azam Khan – the then principal secretary – to “manipulate the contents of cipher”. “The former premier deliberately kept the copy of diplomatic cipher, which was sent to the PM office”, it added.