PTI chief, Shah Mehmood Qureshi ‘found guilty’ in cipher case

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday filed a challan (charge sheet) in the Special Court established under the Official Secrets Act, founding Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi ‘guilty’ in the cipher case, ARY News reported.

The FIA, in its challan, stated that the former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi were found guilty and requested the court to conduct their trial and sentence them in cipher case.

Meanwhile, the former premier’s former principal secretary Azam Khan has been named as a “strong witness” in the case. The FIA also attached Azam Khan’s testimony, recorded under Sections 161 and 164, along with the challan.

The challan stated that the PTI chief kept the cipher to himself and misused the state secret. “Imran Khan had a copy of the cipher but he did not return it,” it added.

The challan also included transcripts of the speeches that Imran Khan and Qureshi delivered at the March 27, 2022 rally. Moreover, the FIA has also submitted a list of 28 witnesses to the court, with statements of 27 of them attached to the challan.

Read More: Cipher case: PTI chief, Qureshi’s indictment deferred

The witnesses include former foreign secretaries Asad Majeed, Sohail Mehmood as well as Additional Foreign Secretary Faisal Niaz Timrizi.

Earlier in the day, the special court deferred indictment of the former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a cipher case.

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Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain heard the case in Adiala Jail under the Official Secrets Act 2023 in the presence of senior prosecutor, Shah Khawar, PTI Chairman and former foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

During today’s hearing, the copies of challan in the case were given to the suspects of the Cipher case, meanwhile, the special court is scheduled to indict the accused in the next hearing.

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

According to the report, action also will be taken against Azam Khan and Asad Umar after the authorities reached the conclusion that they were also involved in misusing the classified documents.

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.