PTI chairman, Shah Mehmood Qureshi indicted in cipher case

A special court constituted under the Official Secrets Act on Monday indicted PTI chairman Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case, ARY News reported.

The hearing began in Adiala jail early on Monday with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s lawyers filing a new petition against a possible indictment.

However, the court indicted the PTI chairman and foreign minister. Both the politicians pleaded not guilty and refused to accept the charge sheet. Judge Abu Alhasnaat summoned witnesses at the next hearing on October 27.

The indictment had been scheduled for the previous hearing but could not be carried through since the two politicians had not signed copies of the challan.

Usman Gul, Umair Niazi, Khalid Raja and Yasir Yousuf appeared before the court to represent the PTI chairman in the case while Taimur Malik and Raja Qamar Inayat represented Shah Mehmood Qureshi in case.

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.

Read more: Cipher case: Witnesses list against PTI chief surfaces

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 former premier and top diplomat endangered the state interests.