Rawalpindi: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and Vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi were indicted in the cipher case on Monday.
According to details, Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain of the Special Court of Official Secrets Act filed the charges during the hearing in Adiala Jail.
Chairman PTI and Shah Mehmood Qureshi have denied the crime.
The court rejected the petition of chairman PTI to halt the indictment saying that today’s date was set for indictment, therefore it will be filed.
The court adjourned the hearing of the cipher case till October 27, summoning the statements of the witnesses in the case.
Earlier, the date of charge sheeting was fixed on October 17, but at that time, the lawyers of Tehreek-e-Insaf raised the objection about not providing copies of the challan. After PTI’s objection, the date of indictment was fixed today.
On the occasion of today’s hearing, strict security measures were observed outside Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi and additional police force was deployed.
It is pertinent to note that Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi are currently imprisoned in Adiala Jail in the case.
What is the cipher case?
Chairman PTI and former Prime Minister Imran Khan created a conspiracy narrative against his government based on the messages or ciphers of the Pakistani ambassador to the US, in which Imran Khan had claimed that the US had a hand in the overthrow of his government, However, the PTI government’s position regarding the cipher has been denied in the meeting of the National Security Committee.
Apart from this, an audio leak of Imran Khan and his former secretary Azam Khan regarding the cipher was revealed, in which the former Prime Minister was heard saying ‘Now we have only to play, not to name the US, just play this that the date was already written on it’. Azam Khan replied ‘I was thinking that a meeting should be held over this cipher’.Â
After that, the federal cabinet entrusted the investigation of the matter to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
Azam Khan was the Principal Secretary to the then Prime Minister Imran Khan during the PTI regime and was considered very close to him.
Regarding the cipher, former Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt. Gen. Babar Iftikhar said that an attempt was made to dramatize the cipher, and rumors and false news were spread with the aim of gaining political advantage.
