A Pakistan special court hearing the cipher case against former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday adjourned the trial till Wednesday without indicting the two leaders. Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqernain conducted the proceedings of the case in Adiala Jail at Rawalpindi where the two leaders are incarcerated in the case, which is based on the allegation that a diplomatic document sent by the Pakistan embassy in March last year was mishandled by Khan and Qureshi and they violated the secret laws of the country.
The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) charge sheet alleges that the document was never returned by Khan. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has long held that the document contained a threat from the United States to oust Khan as prime minister. Khan’s party in a WhatsApp message said that the hearing was adjourned till Dec 13 (Wednesday) “without indictment”. The two leaders were earlier indicted in the case on Oct 23 but the process was nullified by the Islamabad High Court (IHC). Judge Zulqernain said at the last hearing on Dec 4 that a fresh indictment was mandatory in the light of the IHC judgment which declared all proceedings illegal after ruling against the jail trial on procedural grounds.
It resulted in a fresh process to initiate an in-prison trial of the duo after completing all procedures and starting the case from the start.
The FIA registered the cipher case on August 15 on the charges of violating the secret laws of the country.
