PTI chairman, Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s bail pleas rejected in cipher case

ISLAMABAD: A special court established under the Official Secrets Act has rejected the bail pleas of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and party’s Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case, ARY News reported on Thursday.

Special court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain heard the bail applications and announced the verdict after hearing arguments from PTI’s counsels.

Earlier in the day, the same court confirmed the pre-arrest bail granted to former federal minister and PTI leader Asad Umar in the same case.

On August 22, the same court headed by Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain had granted pre-arrest bail to Umar against a surety bond of Rs100,000.

The PTI Chairman Imran Khan was sent to jail on August 5 following his conviction in the Toshakhana case. On August 29, the IHC had suspended his sentence.

However, a special court had directed Attock jail authorities to keep him in “judicial lockup” in connection with the cipher case.

On Tuesday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) reserved its verdict on a petition filed by PTI chairman challenging the law ministry’s decision to conduct the trial in the cipher case at Attock jail.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq reserved the verdict on PTI chairman’s plea after hearing the arguments. The court had sought an explanation from the respondents on the notice.

Read More: Cipher case: IHC reserves verdict on PTI chairman’s plea against hearing in Attock 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 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.

Read more: Official Secrets Act: Special court constituted for hearings

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.