The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s petition against proceedings and indictment in the cipher case by a special court, with an order that Imran be provided a “fair trial”.
In his petition filed a day ago, PTI chairman had urged the IHC to declare the exercise of framing charges against him as “illegal and unlawful”. He moved the court through his lawyer, Salman Safdar advocate and cited the state through the Attorney General’s office and secretary Ministry of Interior as respondents.
In the petition, the counsel had stated the petitioner was quite “aggrieved with the mode and manner of framing of charges” as well as the proceedings and the trial under the Official Secrets Act.
He also contended that the judge in the case, in “sheer haste, compromising fair trial and procedure, proceeded to frame charges against the accused despite serious objections and pendency of applications filed before the court …”.
Imran Khan’s indictment
A special court indicted PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case on Monday.
The hearing was held at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi by special court Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain.
PTI accuses ‘institutions’ of patronising corruption
Earlier, the PTI had filed a petition to stop the indictment. Rejecting the petitions, the judge said the hearing was fixed for indictment and indicted the PTI leaders.
The case in question is related to “misuse” of alleged contents of a diplomatic cipher, cited by ex-premier Imran as proof of an attempt to remove his government.