The Islamabad High Court rejected the plea for an immediate injunction on the trial in the cipher case against former prime minister and founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan. Islamabad High Court Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb heard the petitions of Imran Khan against the decisions of the trial court related to the cipher case.
At the start of the hearing, Imran Khan’s lawyer Usman Gul came to the rostrum, Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb remarked that the matter had come up in an earlier petition as well. According to the prosecution, the case was filed after the approval of the Cabinet.
Imran Khan’s lawyer Usman Riaz Gul said that our case in this application is that the Official Secrets Act is a special law, being a special law, a special procedure will be adopted for the proceedings under it.
He further said that the word complaint is written in the law and not FIR, there are many court decisions in support of our petition, FIR is always under section 154.
He said that our case is that a complaint should have been filed before a magistrate with the approval of the government, an FIR was filed in the case against founder PTI, the complaint was not sent to the magistrate.
Imran Khan’s lawyer read out the court order dated December 12, the court remarked that the court proceedings were not being conducted as per the requirement of sub-section 3 of section 13.
Usman Riaz Gul said that the word complaint was mentioned in the law but FIR was not mentioned, it is a special law under which judicial proceedings are possible.
Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb inquired what is your point? Which requirement is not met?
Usman Riaz Gul took the stand that legally the authorized officer of the government can file a complaint directly in the court, in this case an FIR was filed instead of a complaint, the case is ongoing on a daily basis, 25 witnesses. Statements were recorded and 3 were cross-examined, totaling 28 witnesses.
He requested the court to direct the trial court to hear the case after 5-6 days, the trial court can complete the trial during this time.
Imran Khan’s lawyer requested the Islamabad High Court to issue an injunction on the cipher trial, however, the Islamabad High Court rejected the immediate request for an injunction on the cipher trial, Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb remarked that notice should be given first. We are issuing the first notice.
The Islamabad High Court has issued notices to the federal government on the application filed in the cipher case, which was received by the FIA prosecutor present in the courtroom.
It should be noted that Imran Khan had challenged the proceedings of the cipher case, including the indictment, in the Islamabad High Court, which was scheduled for hearing on December 19 with objections.
It may be recalled that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had submitted a challan in the court on September 30, in which it allegedly asked Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi to reveal the secret text of the cipher under Sections 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act. He was declared the main accused in the case of losing the cipher.
FIA cited 27 witnesses in the challan, main witness Azam Khan has already testified before FIA against Imran Khan.
In his statement, Azam Khan reportedly said that Imran Khan used the secret document to divert public attention from the no-confidence motion he was facing as prime minister at the time.
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2024-08-15 19:59:37
