By Special Correspondent
ATTOCK, Pakistan: A special court Wednesday extended judicial remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan till September 13 in the cipher case, according to the sources.
The court established under the Official Secrets Act heard the case at the Attock District Jail. Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain, who arrived at the jail early in the morning, heard the case and issued the decision in this regard. The case revolves around a ‘missing cipher’, a classified state document that Khan had supposedly waved during his political gathering ahead of his ouster from office last year.
The Law Ministry gave approval of the hearing in the jail for security concerns expressed by the Interior Ministry. The PTI chief has been in the said jail since his conviction in the Toshakhana case on August 5 for failing to properly declare gifts he received while in office.
While a day earlier, the Islamabad High Court suspended a lower court’s decision to jail Khan for three years along with a Rs100,000 fine — a judgment that barred him from contesting upcoming elections.
Khan’s five-member legal team headed by Advocate Salman Safdar attended the court hearing in the prison today. The legal team comprising Naeem Haider Panjotha, Salman Safdar, Intizar Panjotha, Ali Ijaz Buttar and Umair Niazi who were earlier denied request for meeting Khan, but were later allowed entry inside the jail.
One of Khan’s counsels, Buttar, questioned the legality of former PM’s remand. “We have many questions. When was the PTI chairman remanded? How was the remand made possible without telling the accused and his lawyers?” he asked.
Later, addressing the media outside the jail premises, Advocate Salman Safdar expressed astonishment that how an accused could be sent on judicial remand without his appearance before the court. He lamented that the former prime minister and foreign ministers were being tried under official secrets act, saying it deplorable.
Meanwhile, former foreign minister and PTI vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi will also be produced before the court at the judicial complex in connection with the cipher case today after his two-day remand ends today.
