ISLAMABAD: The District and Sessions Judge of Islamabad has approved one-day physical remand of PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cYpher misplacement case.
The court has also ordered the investigating officer to present the former foreign minister Qureshi again tomorrow on Monday.
The counsel for the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said the FIR against Qureshi was registered under the recently promulgated Official Secrets Act.
At the request of the lawyer, the magistrate ordered everyone but the lawyers concerned to leave the courtroom. The magistrate then held an in-camera hearing of the case.
The FIA had sought 14-day physical remand of Qureshi, and the court had reserved its decision.
Earlier on reaching the court, Qureshi met with former PTI leader Shireen Mazari.
According to the FIR, the case was registered against PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Qureshi on August 15 over the alleged misplacement of a diplomatic cable from the US under sections 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act 1923 read with Section 34 of the PPC.
The FIR was registered on the application of Interior Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar.
According to the contents of the FIR, at the conclusion of an inquiry dated Oct 5, 2022, registered with the FIA’s Counter-Terrorism Wing in Islamabad, it transpired that Imran Khan, Qureshi and their associates were involved in communicating information contained in the cipher telegram received from Washington DC, USA on March 7, 2022 to unauthorized persons by “twisting facts to achieve their ulterior motives and personal gains in a manner prejudicial to the state security”.
It further stated that the suspects held a meeting at Bani Gala on March 28, 2022, to conspire to misuse the cypher to accomplish their nefarious designs.
The suspect Imran Khan, the FIR further states, malafidely directed his then principal secretary Azam Khan to prepare the minutes of that meeting by manipulating the contents of the cipher to “use it for his vested interests at the cost of national safety”.
Moreover, the numbered and accountable copy of the cypher telegram sent to the PM House was deliberately kept in his custody with “malafide intention”, and never returned to the Foreign Ministry.
It alleged that the cipher is still in the illegal possession of Imran Khan, adding that the unauthorised retention and misuse of the document by the suspects compromised the entire cyber security system of the state and secret communication method of Pakistan’s missions abroad.
The actions of the suspects directly/indirectly benefited the interests of foreign powers and caused a loss to the state.
The case against Imran Khan and Qureshi has been registered over wrongful use of official secret information and illegal retention of cipher telegram with malafide intention.
The FIR added that the role of Azam Khan, Asad Umar and other associates will be determined during the investigation.
Read more: Lawyer Imaan Mazari arrested by Islamabad police
