The state counsels for former Prime Minister Imran Khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were appointed on Saturday by the special court that was established to handle proceedings under the Official Secrets Act. A special court was formed to hear cases.
Judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain of the special court announced the verdict after discovering that the attorneys who were defending the accused were not present during the hearings that took place on Friday.
Despite the fact that the hearing was supposed to resume at noon, the attorneys did not show up, which caused the hearing that took place the day before to be tarnished by their absence.
In the course of its consideration of the facts and circumstances, the court highlighted that it had made sufficient provisions for the accused’s legal representation to be present in court. The court, however, was left with no other option except to assign state defense counsel because neither Imran nor Qureshi had a senior attorney attending the proceedings on their behalf.
A request for the same was addressed to the office of the Attorney General of Islamabad via email. The request asked for a list of attorneys who may represent the accused in the capacity of state counsel.
The attorney general’s office delivered a letter to the court, in which they provided the names of the attorneys who will now be representing Imran and Qureshi in the cipher case. It has been decided that Advocate Malik Abdul Rahman will now defend Imran, and Advocate Hazrat Younus will take on the role of representing Qureshi.
The accused will be represented by both counsels, who will then present the case and conduct cross-examinations of the witnesses. On January 27, the designated counsels are set to submit their arguments according to the schedule.
For the cipher
This case was started as a result of Imran’s public display of a paper during a rally in Islamabad on March 27, 2022. He claimed that the paper was evidence of a “international conspiracy” before a vote of no confidence led to the removal of his administration.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) began its investigation into the alleged “cypher-gate” on July 19, 2023. This was in response to the announcement made by the previous coalition government that they would be conducting an official investigation into the former prime minister and his close friends for breaking the OSA.
Because of his conviction in the Toshakhana case, which was handed down by a local court in Islamabad, Imran was taken into custody on August 5. On August 29, he was also taken into custody in connection with the cypher case.
According to the challan papers, Imran and Qureshi were charged with violating different provisions of the Official Secrets Act, specifically sections 5 and 9. In accordance with these regulations, the potential of the death penalty or life imprisonment is included.
Earlier, the proceedings of the cypher trial had begun inside the Adiala jail; however, a division bench of the IHC later declared all of those proceedings to be invalid and ordered a new trial to take place in open court.
