Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and
the party’s vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi have been charged in the cypher
case, Geo News reported.
Khan, Qureshi have been indicted by The Official
Secrets Act court in Pakistan.
The PTI chief was arrested in August after a case was
filed against him for allegedly violating the Official Secrets Act by
disclosing a secret diplomatic cable (cypher) sent by the country’s embassy in
Washington in March last year.
Earlier on Tuesday, the special court of Pakistan
adjourned the hearing of the cypher case against Khan, Qureshi and postponed
the indictment till October 23, reported The Express Tribune.
At the briefing, the defence lawyer raised an
objection to holding Qureshi’s trial in prison, according to The Express
Tribune.
Following this, the prosecutor said that a
notification had been issued by the Fderal Government.
Adding to this, the defence further argued that given
that the notification was issued on Tuesday, all prior proceedings were illegal
as were the case documents, reported The Express Tribune.
After the case documents were provided to the defence
team, the hearing was adjourned. Later, the judge said the indictment process
would be initiated at the next hearing.
The cypher controversy first emerged on March 27,
2022, when Imran Khan, just days before his ouster in April 2022, brandished a
letter, claiming that it was a cypher from a foreign nation, which mentioned
that his government should be ousted from power, according to The News
International report.
He did not reveal the contents of the letter and the
name of the nation that had sent it. However, a few days later Imran Khan named
the United States and said that US Assistant Secretary of State for South and
Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had sought his removal.
The PTI chairman had claimed that he was reading
contents from the cypher and said that “all will be forgiven for Pakistan Imran
Khan is removed from power”.
ANI
