Cipher case: Imran Khan challenges indictment in IHC

• Imran Khan “illegally retained and wrongly communicated” the cipher.
• Khan implores IHC to declare his indictment null and void.
• Court did not fulfill legal requirement in framing charges: petition.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Wednesday moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against his indictment in the cipher case by a special court formed under the Official Secrets Act.

Earlier this week, the special court indicted Khan and his deputy Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the cipher case that included charges of violating the secret law by misusing and misplacing the diplomatic cable based on conversations between Pakistan’s envoy to Washington and the US diplomat during the tenure of Khan-led government last year.

Special court judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain read out the charges, which said that Imran Khan “illegally retained and wrongly communicated” the cipher.

“The said information/cipher was relating to top secret information, which were inter-se two states i.e., United States and Pakistan,” said the charge-sheet, adding that the PTI chief used the cipher in a “prohibited place (jalsa)” and “wilfully communicated” the secret information to the participants, in violation of “interests of the State of Pakistan”.

In a petition filed through his counsels Salman Safdar and Khalid Yousaf today, the incarcerated former prime minister implored the IHC to declare his indictment null and void citing procedural lapses.

Complainant Yousuf Naseem Khokhar and state have been made parties in the petition.

The petition said the charges could be framed after seven days of distribution of challan copies and the trial court did not fulfill legal requirement in this regard.

It contended that the special court indicted the PTI chief in haste and also wanted to hold hasty trial proceedings.

The petitioner said the IHC had not issued any direction to the special court to hear case on a daily basis and conclude trial early.

“Proceedings with a hasty trial will affect fundamental constitutional rights,” the petitioner said.

It said the trial proceedings cannot move forward in the absence of main evidence (cipher) and prayed the IHC to annual the Oct 23 decision of the special court.

Khan and Qureshi are currently in Adiala jail on judicial remand in the cipher case.

In August, the FIA arrested the PTI chief and the party’s vice chairman under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly misplacing and misusing classified document for vested political interests.

Khan was taken into custody after being sentenced to three years in prison in the Toshakhana case on August 5, 2023. Initially, he was kept in Attock jail but later he was moved to Adiala jail.

It is pertinent to mention here that the IHC on August 29 had suspended the sentence handed down to the PTI chairman in the Toshakhana case but he remains behind bars due to his arrest in the cipher case.

FIA charge sheet

The FIA, in its challan, stated that the former prime minister and the ex-foreign minister were found guilty in the matter and requested the court to conduct their trial and sentence them in the case.

According to the sources, former PTI secretary-general Asad Umar's name was not added to the list of accused. Meanwhile, Khan's former principal secretary Azam Khan was also named as a "strong witness" in the case.

The FIA also attached Azam's statements, recorded under Sections 161 and 164, along with the challan, said the sources, adding that the PTI chief kept the cipher to himself and misused the state secret.

The sources also said that Khan had a copy of the cipher but he did not return it.

Moreover, the FIA also attached the transcript of Khan and Qureshi's speech on March 27 — the day when the former premier brandished a letter claiming it was a cipher from a foreign nation, that wanted his government to be removed from power.

The agency also submitted a list of 28 witnesses to the court with the challan after recording their statements under Section 161.

Sources further revealed that the names of former foreign secretaries Asad Majeed, Sohail Mehmood and the then additional foreign secretary Faisal Niaz Tirmizi have also been added to the list of witnesses.

What is ciphergate?

The controversy first emerged on March 27, 2022, when Khan — less than a month before his ouster in April 2022 — while addressing a public rally waved a letter before the crowd, claiming that it was a cipher from a foreign nation that had conspired with his political rivals to have PTI government overthrown.

He did not reveal the contents of the letter nor did he mention the name of the nation it came from. But a few days later, he accused the United States of conspiring against him and alleged that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had sought his removal.

The cipher was about former Pakistan ambassador to the US Majeed's meeting with Lu.

The former prime minister, claiming that he was reading contents from the cipher, said that "all will be forgiven for Pakistan if Imran Khan is removed from power".

Then on March 31, the National Security Committee (NSC) took up the matter and decided to issue a "strong demarche" to the US for its "blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan".

Later, after his removal, then-prime minister Shehbaz Sharif convened a meeting of the NSC, which came to the conclusion that it had found no evidence of a foreign conspiracy in the cable.

In the two audio leaks that took the internet by storm and shocked the public after these events, the former prime minister, then-federal minister Asad Umar, and then-principle secretary Azam could allegedly be heard discussing the US cipher and how to use it to their advantage.

On September 30, the federal cabinet took notice of the matter and constituted a committee to probe the contents of the audio leaks.

In October, the cabinet gave the green signal to initiate action against the former prime minister and handed over the case to the FIA.

Once FIA was given the task to probe the matter, it summoned Khan, Umar, and other leaders of the party, but the PTI chief challenged the summons and secured a stay order from the court.

The Lahore High Court (LHC), in July this year, recalled the stay order against the call-up notice to Khan by the FIA.

The charge sheet added that Qureshi “aided and abetted” Imran and, therefore, was liable for the act in the same manner.

However, both the accused pleaded not guilty.