The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday approved former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s bail in the cipher case. It directed the PTI leaders to submit surety bonds worth Rs1 million each. The order was issued by a three-member bench headed by Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and comprising Justices Athar Minallah and Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on a set of PTI petitions. The cipher case pertains to a diplomatic document that the Federal Investigation Agency’s charge sheet alleges was never returned by Imran. The PTI has long held that the document contained a threat from the United States to oust Imran as prime minister. The Special Court (Official Secrets Act) had begun the cipher trial afresh last week at the Adiala district jail after Imran and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi were indicted for a second time in the case on Dec 13.

The former premier and his aide Qureshi, who is also behind bars, were first indicted in the case on Oct 23. Both had pleaded not guilty. The trial was being held at Adiala Jail and four witnesses had alre­a­dy recorded their statements when the IHC termed the government’s notification for a jail trial “erroneous” and scrap­ped the entire proceedings. The IHC had endorsed Imran’s indictment, disposing of his plea against the same, but had also instructed the special court judge to ensure a “fair trial”. Last month, the PTI had moved the apex court seeking Imran’s post-arrest bail in the case. The petition pleaded that it was an unequivocal and well-established principle of the Supreme Court that bail should never be wielded as a form of punishment. Previously, the SC had issued notices to the FIA and federation on the plea and directed them to submit their responses to it.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)