ISLAMABAD:
The cypher case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan will be heard on Wednesday (today) in the Attock Jail, where the former prime minister is being lodged, by a special court established under the Official Secrets Act.
IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq announced the hearing and said he would reserve his decision on Imran’s plea, in which he contested the cypher case trial taking place in Attock Jail and asked to be transferred to Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.
According to our informants, the cypher case will be heard by Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain of the special court.
Meanwhile, they noted that senior PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s comparable case would be heard in Islamabad.
The PTI’s senior vice chairman, Qureshi, would reportedly be brought before a judge. They added that Qureshi’s court remand of 14 days would end on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, PTI chief Imran Khan’s lawyer, Sher Afzal Marwat, posed the question of under what law the cypher case was shifted from the federal capital territory to Attock in Punjab at the commencement of the hearing of his plea in IHC.
The official law ministry announcement was also read out loud by him.
Marwat said that only the Supreme Court had the authority to move a trial to another province, and that neither the chief commissioner of Islamabad nor the federal interior secretary could do so.
The PTI chief’s attorney argued that despite bail being granted in the Toshakhana case, the PTI leader remained in judicial custody.
He emphasised there was no justification for Imran to remain in Attock Jail. The notification from the government was made with the intention of detaining the PTI chairman in Attock Jail.
Marwat stated that the hearing location could not be changed without the approval of the presiding judge. He stated that it was unclear under what authority the notification was made, and that this demonstrated “malice” on the part of those responsible for moving the hearing.
AAG Manoor Iqbal Dogal responded to Marwat’s arguments by explaining that the ministry’s notification was only published once and that the court had been moved to Attock Jail on August 30 in order to hear the cypher case.
He went on to say that the ministry had simply issued the NoC and that the Rules of Business gave the law ministry the authority to make announcements.
The AAG stated that the petition was no longer valid because the notification was only valid once.
Chief Justice Farooq made the observation that a trial held behind bars was not unprecedented.
However, he requested the prosecutor update the court on the jail trial’s protocol.
The matter has not been tried yet, prosecutor Zulfikar Abbas Naqvi said the court.
Naqvi further stated that the law ministry issued the notification in accordance with the law, citing the appointments of Additional Sessions Judge Faizan Haider Gilani and Judge Raja Jawad Abbas as instances.
Marwat remarked that it was not possible to say that the notification had become null and void. The chief justice also disagreed that the petition was now moot.
He stressed the need of determining who had the right to send the notification.
The judge deferred ruling on the petition until after the parties had finished presenting their cases.
Marwat informed the court that a ruling on his second motion was also pending. He went on to say that his client had lost out since the decisions were announced late.
Unrest on May 9
Joint Investigation Team (JIT) findings: PTI chief guilty in 10 of 14 charges relating to May 9 violence.
In the main case against Imran, the JIT finished a 2,000-page challan (indictment).
JIT sources claim that more than 400 social media-related pieces of evidence were found to incriminate Imran, and that the statements of 80 suspects, who were reportedly directly involved in the attack on the Jinnah House, Lahore, showed clear signs of plot.
