ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former premier Imran Khan has been re-arrested in the cypher case immediately after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended his three-year sentence in Toshakhana case.
The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) judge, AbulHasanat Muhammad Zulqarnain, who has been appointed as the judge of the special court, and will also hear the cases registered under the Official Secrets Act from across the country, directed the Attock Jail authorities where Khan is currently incarcerated to keep Imran in judicial lockup and produce him on August 30 (today) in connection with the cypher case.
In a letter addressed to the Attock jail superintendent, the special court judge said that “the accused Imran Khan Niazi son of Ikramullah Khan Niazi resident of Zaman Park, Lahore is hereby ordered for judicial remand in the case FIR mentioned above, who is already detained in district jail, Attock.”
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The agency registered the FIR on August 15 under Sections 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, against Khan, former federal foreign affairs minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi for wrongful communication/use of official secret information and illegal retention of cypher telegram (official secret document) with mala fide intention at the complaint of the then secretary Ministry of Interior Yousaf Naseem Khokhar.
According to the copy of the FIR, consequent upon the conclusion of the inquiry no 111/2023 upon the complaint registered in the Counter Terrorism Wing (CTW), FIA, it transpired that former prime minister namely, Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi, former foreign minister namely, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and their other associates are involved in the communication of information contained in secret classified document (Cypher Telegram received from Parep Washington dated March 7, 2022, to Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to the unauthorised persons (i.e., public at large) by twisting the facts to achieve their “ulterior motives” and personal gains in a manner prejudicial to the interests of state security. The role of the former principal secretary to the prime minister Muhammad Azam Khan, former federal minister Asad Umar, and other associates involved will be ascertained during the course of investigations, it says.
The FIA has already arrested Qureshi and obtained his physical remand from the court.
The hearing of the cypher case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan will be held at Attock jail due to security reasons.
Judge Abul Hasnaat Zulqarnain, who is overseeing the cypher case, will preside over the proceedings within the confines of the prison.
In a notification issued here due to security concerns as conveyed by Ministry of Interior the Ministry of Law and Justice has no obligation to trial of PTI chief within the premises of Attock Jail under official secrete act.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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