Cipher case: PTI chief moves Supreme Court against indictment

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan on Wednesday moved Supreme Court, challenging his indictment by a special court in the cipher case, ARY News reported.

The deposed premier filed a petition in the Supreme Court through his lawyer Hamid Khan, urging it to declare the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) decision to withhold the indictment illegal.

In his petition, Imran Khan also requested the court that the framing of a charge against him by a special court formed under the Official Secrets Act, 1923 on October 23, 2023 should be declared “illegal, unlawful and violative of the Code of Criminal Procedure”.

“The special court has undeniably framed a charge that is flawed and inaccurate, and such errors will undoubtedly have severe repercussions. These defects are not correctable and have caused substantial prejudice to the petitioner [Imran Khan],” the petition stated.

The PTI chief in his plea contended that he was being politically victimised in the case. “The state machinery is being used to create fake cases against the petitioner [Imran],” it added.

“The petitioner and the co-accused [Shah Mahmood Qureshi], who has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs twice, have been provided the immunity under Article 248 of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973. Therefore, the exercise of persecuting the petitioner and the co-accused through commencing the trial under the Official Secrets Act, 1923 is unquestionably null and void in the eyes of law,” the plea added.

It is pertinent to mention here that Islamabad High Court (IHC) had rejected the bail plea of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman in the cipher case.

Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi are currently in Adiala jail in the cipher case.

This is the second petition the PTI chief had filed in the Supreme Court related to the cipher case. Last week, Imran Khan had filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking post-arrest bail in the cipher case.

The former prime minister was taken into custody after being sentenced to three years in prison in the Toshakhana case on August 5, 2023. Initially, he was kept in Attock jail but later he was moved to Adiala jail.

Cipher case

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 Mehmood 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 the former premier and top diplomat endangered the state interests.