Islamabad: In a new development in the encryption case, the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday said that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had intercepted former prime minister Imran Khan’s secret diplomatic cables and had no evidence to prove the loss. ownership
The watchdog, comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb of the IHC, reviewed the pleas against Mr Khan and the then foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the encryption case.
Earlier, defense lawyer Barrister Salman Safdar submitted to the IHC a report by the Ministry of External Affairs containing details of the code distribution.
The report revealed that all those who received the code, including former army chief and Chief Justice Imran Khan, have returned the classified documents after a case was filed against them.
When Special Prosecutor Hamid Ali Shah of the Ministry of External Affairs explained the movement of the cipher to the prime minister, Justice Farooq asked whether the Prosecution Service had any records with the FIA to prove that Mr Khan kept the cipher.
Shah testified in court that the then chief secretary Azam Khan had given the cipher to former prime minister Khan and it was never returned.
“We believe it has been heard,” the chief justice said, adding that the former prime minister could ask the secretary to restore his password.
However, Shah said that he had good reason to believe that the court accepted and authorized the former prime minister’s code, and had already made it public and sent a demarche to the US.
“But how do we know it wasn’t returned?” asked the chief justice.
Shah said witnesses in the case swore that Khan never turned over confidential documents. In public speeches and in private television interviews, he claimed that the code belonged to him.
Justice Aurangzeb said politicians make such statements to appeal to the crowd.
He asked the state counsel to inform the court about what happened in the First Information Report (FIR) registered against Azam Khan’s abduction.
Justice Farooq on May 2 recommended filing a complaint against the FIR or dismissal.
Example of Iddat
Meanwhile, Bushra Bibi’s ex-wife, Khawar Farid Maneka, has filed an appeal against Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi’s sentence in the Iddat case.
Mr. Maneka asked Sessions Judge Shahrukh Arjumand to recuse himself from hearing the appeal on his behalf. Hakim also expressed sympathy for Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.
