PTI chief being 'mentally tortured' in Adiala jail: lawyer

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief and former prime minister being ‘mentally tortured’ in Adiala Jail, ARY News reported.

As per details, the PTI chief lawyer Naeem Hairder Panjotha claimed that the former prime minister is kept in a small room of C-class jail and is not allowed to come out of that room even for a walk.

The PTI chief’s counsel said that he doubts the quality of food being given to the former prime minister however the plea regarding food is still pending in the court.

He questioned the in-camera hearing of cipher case and urged to proceed with the open trial of the case. He said the conviction of PTI chairman in cipher is a part of campaign to keep the former prime minister out of politics.

Read more: PTI demands judicial probe into cipher case

Earlier today, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rejected the challan submitted by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and demanded the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the cipher case.

In a statement issued today, the PTI spokesperson said that the challan submitted against party chairman and vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi was ‘meaningless and bogus as cipher case”.

Moreover, the spokesperson maintained, the cipher was still present in its original state in the Foreign Office. “Cipher’s presence proves the allegations leveled against the former prime minister [Imran Khan] as baseless,” he added.

“The then federal cabinet declassified the cipher under its powers”, the spokesman noted, claiming that Official Secrets Act cannot be applied in this 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.

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 reach 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.