Govt challenges IHC verdict on Cipher Case jail trial
FIR was registered in Cipher Case on August 15 under the Official Secrets Act.
ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Friday filed a plea in the Supreme Court (SC) against Islamabad High Court’s verdict of nullifying the jail trial of the PTI founder in a cipher case.
PTI founder, special court judge, director general of Federal Investigation Agency, IG, deputy commissioner, chief commissioner Islamabad, and others have been made respondents.
The government in its plea stated that the high court ‘neglected’ the facts in the case and nullified the jail trial of the former prime minister in the cipher case.
The high court does not have the authority to rule against the special court, the plea submitted through Raja Rizwan Abbasi stated.
The federal government has pleaded with the Supreme Court to strike down Islamabad High Court’s verdict of November 21, 2023.
Cipher case
The first information report (FIR) was registered on August 15 under the Official Secrets Act. It was registered on the complaint of the Home Secretary.
Former prime minister and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were nominated in the report, while names of former principal secretary Azam Khan and former planning minister Asad Umar were also mentioned.
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According to the report, action also will be taken against Azam Khan and Asad Umar after the authorities reached the conclusion that they were also involved in misusing the classified documents.
IHC Halts Trial Court Witness Testimony in Imran-Bushra Nikah Case
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday stopped the trial court from recording statements of witnesses in the case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi’s solemnising nikah in an unIslamic way.
The directives were issued by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq during today’s hearing of the case.
Imran, who was removed from prime minister’s office in April 2022, and his wife have denied all charges in the case registered by Bushra’s former husband, Khawar Maneka, in November 2023.
At the hearing’s outset, Imran and Bushra’s counsel Barrister Salman Akram Raja apprised the court that the entire district judiciary was present in Adiala Jail to record statements of witnesses.
The IHC chief justice then directed him to provide details of the case as he would stop the trial court from recording the witnesses’ statements.
Even if the witnesses’ statements were accepted, the nikah took place 48 days after the divorce, Raja said.
The court inquired what was the duration of iddat (the intervening period before the next marriage). The barrister replied usually it was 90 days but Islamic jurisprudent and noted scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani had given a clarification in the said period.
He also said a Supreme Court verdict was available regarding iddat.
CJ Farooq said let’s suppose the SC ruling was not available then what was he challenging in the petition. The counsel replied he had challenged the summon issued to Imran and Bushra in the case.
The chief justice said as per the law, if nikah was solemnised during iddat then it was regularised later. He wondered what the crime was even if the nikah was not formal.
The high court issued a notice to Bushra’s ex-husband, Khawar Maneka, and adjourned the case till January 25.
On January 15, a local court had indicted Imran and his wife in the case of solemnising their marriage against Islamic laws.
Senior Civil Judge Qudratullah had read out the charges in the court set up in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.
