The Islamabad High Court has fastened for listening to the submit-arrest bail plea filed by PTI Chairman Imran Khan in the cipher case, in which he’s at present incarcerated on the Attock jail, it emerged on Saturday.
The courtroom will take up the petition on Sep 25 (Monday), and IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq will preside over the proceedings.
The courtroom has issued a discover to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to current arguments in the case.
The PTI chief was arrested in the Toshakhana case on August 5, and whereas his detention was suspended by the IHC on August 29, he stays incarcerated in the cipher case, bringing his days in jail to a complete of fifty up to now.
Imran had approached the IHC after the particular courtroom — established to hear instances filed below the Official Secrets Act — rejected the ex-premier’s plea looking for the identical.
The cipher case pertains to a diplomatic doc which reportedly went lacking from Imran’s possession. The PTI alleges that it contained a risk from the United States to oust Imran from energy.
Imran and former international minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had been attending hearings in the case, whereas PTI chief Asad Umar’s and former principal secretary Azam Khan’s involvement was supposed to be decided in the course of the course of the investigation.
While Umar was granted pre-arrest bail final week, Imran and Qureshi had been denied submit-arrest bail, and their judicial remand — which was prolonged — will full on September 26.
Imran had on Sep 16 filed the petition, a replica of which is on the market with Dawn.com, by way of his lawyer Barrister Salman Safdar.
The state and (*25*) Ministry Secretary Yousuf Naseem Khokar are respondents in the case.
The petition urged the IHC to grant Imran submit-arrest bail until the ultimate disposal of the cipher case “to meet the ends of justice”.
The plea claimed that just about 200 prison instances have been filed towards the previous premier, out of which “nearly 40 instances are [on] expenses of corruption, homicide, sedition, mutiny, international funding, NAB (National Accountability Bureau) reference and Toshakhana reference”.
It argued that the PTI chief couldn’t avail treatment below part 498 (energy to direct admission to bail or discount of bail) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
The petition alleged that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) operated on the behest of the then inside ministry. It added that the matter of the case not being registered by the international ministry had gone unnoticed by Special Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain.
“Never earlier than, historical past has witnessed the ‘arrest’ and ‘prosecution’ of a former prime minister (Imran) and a former international minister (Qureshi) below this legislation (Secrets Act),” the plea said.
It went on to cite previous verdicts to argue that “straightaway arrests have been condemned in landmark authoritative judgments”. The petition asserts that the Secrets Act was “initially enacted to maintain members of the armed forces (air, navy, military) accountable for violations and breaches of the legislation”.
It contended that neither part 5 (wrongful communication, and many others of data) nor part 9 (makes an attempt, incitements, and many others) of the Official Secrets Act had been relevant in the cipher case, and neither does the legislation have “any distant relevance to the allegations detailed in the FIR”.
The petition additional said that former inside minister Rana Sanaullah and the FIA have made “contradictory statements”, in accordance to which, the “unique cipher doc is securely held in the custody of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”.
“The petitioner’s main concern was to forestall international interference in home political affairs,” it stated.
The plea went on to allege, “This is one other like try, made by the state functionaries, to safe the straightway arrest of the petitioner after suspension of his sentence in Toshakhana reference.”.
It additional stated that the respondents’ acts depict “clear mala fide, hostility, and vindictive motives to hurt the petitioner in his workplace, profession, particular person, fame, and dignity”.
The plea said that the petitioner was prepared to furnish affordable surety to your complete satisfaction of the courtroom and likewise undertook “not to abscond or tamper with the prosecution witnesses”.
Asserting that the PTI chief is “one of many few sincere and dignified statesmen of Pakistan”, the petition recalled Imran’s cricket profession and philanthropic contributions.
It went on to contend that his “mandate and rising reputation it bought from the plenty grew to become a risk to the already effectively-established political forces”. The plea added that state equipment was being misused with the only real goal of “political victimisation and rating-settling”.
According to the FIR, a case has been registered towards former prime minister Imran Khan and Qureshi below sections 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, learn with Section 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
They have been accused of wrongful communication/use of official secret info and unlawful retention of a cipher telegram (an official secret doc) with mala fide intention, whereas the roles of former SPM Muhammad Azam Khan, former federal minister Asad Umar, and different concerned associates will likely be ascertained in the course of the course of the investigations.
It stated former PM Imran, former FM Qureshi and their different associates are concerned in communication of data contained in secret categorized doc (cipher telegram obtained from Parep Washington dated March 7, 2022 to the Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to the unauthorised persons (i.e. public at massive) by twisting details to obtain their ulterior motives and private beneficial properties in a way prejudicial to the pursuits of state safety.
They held a clandestine assembly at Banigala on March 28, 2022 to conspire to misuse the contents of the cipher in order to accomplish their nefarious designs.
The accused, Imran, with mala fide directed the previous principal secretary, Azam Khan, to put together the minutes of stated clandestine assembly by manipulating the contents of the cipher message to use it for his vested curiosity at the price of nationwide security.
Moreover, the numbecrimson and accountable copy of the cipher telegram despatched to the PM Office was intentionally saved by the previous PM, with mala fide intention, and was by no means returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The stated cipher telegram (official secret doc categorized as such) remains to be in the unlawful possession/retention of the accused Imran, the FIR claimed.
