RAWALPINDI: The special court hearing the cypher case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, on Tuesday, recorded statements of three prosecution witnesses.

The special court judge, Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain, while hearing the case, at Adiala Jail recorded the testimony of three witnesses produced by the prosecution. The court, after recording the statement, adjourned the hearing of the case till November 10.

The PTI chief and Qureshi’s legal team including Barrister Salman Safdar, Barrister Taimur Malik, Umair Niazi, Barrister Tamur, Barrister Ghohar Ali Khan, and others, and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) prosecutor, Shah Khawar, Rizwan Abbasi, and Zulfiqar Abbas appeared before the court.

During the previous hearing, the FIA presented 10 witnesses, including Imran Sajjad, Aqeel Haider, Shamoon Qaiser, M Afzal, Nader Khan, Iqra Ashraf, Farrukh Abbas, Haseeb bin Aziz, Investigation Officer (IO) Shabbir, and Khushnood.

Talking to reporters outside Adiala Jail, Safdar said that three witnesses produced by the prosecution before the court for recording their statement were the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs while the complainant of this case is the Ministry of Interior. The allegation leveled in the cypher case was not the aggrieved party.

He said that our legal team extensively cross-examined the three witnesses.

There is a lot of pressure on prosecution and witnesses to complete the trial in a haste, he said, adding that if the then foreign minister or prime minister had committed any wrong then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should have filed the complaint.

The counsel said that the court has summoned three more witnesses to record their statements during the next hearing.

PTI’s legal team met with Khan and Qureshi before recording statements of the witnesses. Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and his sisters also met with him in jail.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023