PTI Vice Chairman and ex-Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was taken into physical custody by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday for questioning in connection with the cipher case.
The PTI leader would be brought before the appropriate court on Monday (today), after being arrested in Islamabad on Saturday following a news conference.
Duty judge Ehtasham Alam presided over the sessions court when he appeared. The judge held the remand hearing for Qureshi behind closed doors.
The PTI politician and former federal minister Asad Umar has been denied arrest by the FIA.
Umar is not in FIA custody, according to high-ranking FIA officials who spoke with The Express Tribune.
Umar and Qureshi’s involvement in the cypher case, they claimed, will be established after the inquiry was complete.
Qureshi was taken into custody by the FIA from his home in the nation’s capital in connection with the cypher leak investigation under the Official Secrets Act of 1923.
For “wrongful use” of official secret information and illegal preservation of the cypher telegraph – an official secret document – with malafide motive, the agency has booked former premier Imran Khan and Qureshi, among others.
According to the FIR No. 6/2023, the probe will determine the involvement of the former prime minister’s principal secretary Azam Khan, the former planning minister Asad Umar, and other friends.
On the complaint of then Interior Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar, the counter-terrorism wing (CTW) of the FIA opened an investigation in Islamabad under Sections 5 (wrongful communication, etc., of information) and 9 (attempts, incitements, etc.) of the Official Secrets Act of 1923 read with Section 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The CTW of the FIA had received an inquiry with the number 111/2023 on October 5, 2022, as was indicated in the FIR.
According to the document, Imran, Qureshi, and their associates “twist[ed] the facts to achieve their ulterior motives and personal gains in a manner prejudicial to the interests of state security” when they leaked a cypher telegram from Parep Washington to the foreign affairs secretary on March 7, 2022.
On Wednesday, a statement from Azam Khan was taken under Section 161.
The FIA’s CTW began making arrests under the Official Secrets Act after the Toshakhana case, during which Azam’s statement was also recorded in the cypher issue.
For the investigation into the £190 million settlement case against the PTI head, Azam testified before the National Accountability Bureau last month.
