In Islamabad, former Prime Minister and Chairman of PTI, Imran Khan, took astep on Friday by submitting a request to the Supreme Court for post-arrestbail in a case concerning a missing classified cypher telegraph’s copy thatauthorities claim he still possesses.
Currently detained at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, Imran Khan filed this pleathrough his attorney, Salman Safdar. In his plea, the former prime ministercontested the October 27 verdict of the Islamabad High Court, whichrejected his petition for post-arrest bail in the cypher case and thedismissal of its initial FIR.
He expressed concern that the High Court’s deliberations extended farbeyond a “tentative assessment,” delving into an unnecessary and extensiveexamination, including over 10 hours of arguments. The delay inadjudication, lengthy submissions, and an elaborate bail refusal order werebelieved to have caused significant prejudice.
Imran Khan informed the Supreme Court that he had previously submitted apost-arrest bail petition before a special judge designated under theOfficial Secrets Act, 1923, in Islamabad on August 30, but it was dismissedon September 14.
He claimed that the dismissal occurred without a thorough consideration ofthe case’s merits, neglecting substantial irregularities and contradictionswithin the prosecution’s narrative.
On September 30 of the same year, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)presented a charge sheet in the cipher case to the special court, allegingthat Imran had violated the Official Secrets Act by unlawfully possessing adiplomatic cipher. The agency also implicated PTI leader Shah MahmoodQureshi in facilitating Imran and referred to his speech at a public rallyin Islamabad on March 27, 2022.
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Imran Khan, in his petition, asserted that he, as a former prime ministerand leader of the “largest political party” in the country, faced nearly200 criminal cases, including allegations of terrorism, mutiny, sedition,prohibited funding, Toshakhana, media speeches, violence, and criminalconspiracies against the state. He contended that these cases were filedwith the intent of politically victimizing him, settling scores, andisolating him.
Imran also argued that the initiation of the cypher case, orchestrated bythe interior ministry secretary and executed by the FIA, representedanother attempt to subject him to political victimization. He pointed outthat the foreign affairs ministry, as per the prosecution, was the originalrecipient of the cypher telegram, but it was the interior ministrysecretary who acted as the complainant in this case.
Additionally, the petition raised concerns about the FIA’s perceived lackof independence and fairness in handling this matter. It also pointed outthat a careful examination of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, indicatedthat its primary focus is on addressing serious offenses like espionage andunauthorized sharing of confidential information related to “prohibited”and “notified” areas with “Enemy States,” which could compromise nationalsecurity.
Section 5 of the Act did not seem to apply to the allegations detailed inthe FIR, rendering the Official Secrets Act, 1923, irrelevant in this case.