RAWALPINDI:
Former foreign minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) stalwart Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday urged the special court conducting the cypher case trial to summon President Arif Alvi to testify regarding changes to the Official Secrets Act.
The cypher case pertains to a document waved by Imran, then the prime minister, at a public rally in March last year, terming it evidence of a foreign conspiracy behind the no-confidence motion he faced at that time. The motion was carried a few weeks later and Imran’s government ended.
As the special court, presided by Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain, resumed hearing the cypher case within Adiala jail premises today, both Imran Khan and Qureshi were present along with their family members. Bushra Bibi, Imran’s sisters, Qureshi’s daughter Mehr Bano and son Zain were in attendance.
During today’s proceedings, Qureshi questioned the legitimacy of the act they were being tried under and maintained that even the president was oblivious to it.
Questioning the ambiguity of the act, the former foreign minister asked the judge whether the trial was being conducted under the Official Secret Acts 1923 or 2023.
Requesting the court to summon the president to take an oath on whether he approved the bill, he requested: “If not Imran Khan’s, at least conduct my trial outside the jail in the open court”.
To this, the court responded that both cases are interlinked and therefore, cannot be separated.
The former chairman of PTI informed the courtroom that as the prime minister, he had ordered an inquiry into this matter. “People involved in this case are quite powerful and efforts are being made to save them”, he claimed and added: “I fear no one but, Allah”.
Imran also claimed that they were being ‘caged like goats’ while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Supremo Nawaz Sharif was treated differently
The court said that copies of the challan would be distributed to the accused at the next hearing.
It should be noted that today, while PTI counsel was raising objections over the presence of the ‘unknown persons’, the judge asked them to maintain silence.
The hearing was then adjourned till December 4.
‘Journalists not allowed to attend’
Speaking to the media after the day’s proceedings, PTI lawyers claimed that Imran, while twice requesting the boycott of the trial, protested that the trial was not being conducted fairly. They also added that more than 50 journalists were not allowed to attend the proceedings and only three were allowed allowed inside Adiala jail.
The counsel further added that only 10 civilians were ‘planted’ to hear the trial. They contended that in no way was the hearing an ‘open trial’ and it was a violation of Islamabad High Court (IHC) orders.
Read Open court trial in cipher case begins today
At the previous hearing, the special court ordered that whoever wished to attend the hearing, including journalists, would not be stopped.