Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan, his deputy indicted by court in official secrets acts case

A Pakistani court indicted former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his deputy in an official secrets acts case, broadcaster Geo TV reported on Monday, in another blow for the ex-premier currently being held in a prison near Islamabad.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PT) Chairman Imran Khan and Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi were indicted after they had moved a petition under CrPC 265-D to stop the indictment.

The hearing of the case was held at the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi by special court judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain.

In line with the procedure, the court issued notices to the witnesses to appear on 27 October and adjourned the hearing till then, Geo TV reports.

According to sources, Qureshi and Khan have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In the last hearing on 17 October, both the PTI leaders' indictment was deferred till today as the copies of challans submitted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against the PTI leaders were provided to the accused.

The FIA, in its challan, stated that the former prime minister and the vice-chairman were found guilty in the matter and requested the court to conduct their trial and sentence them in the case.

Judge Zulqarnain had scheduled the indictment for the next week as the accused lawyers had refused to receive the copies of the challan during the hearing before the one held on October 17.

In August of this year, Khan and Qureshi were booked under the Official Secrets Act 1923 in the cipher case after the FIA invoked Section 5 of the said law. The diplomatic cable reportedly went missing from Imran's possession. According to the former ruling party, the cable contained a threat from the US to topple the PTI's government.

According to the sources, former PTI secretary-general Asad Umar's name was not added to the list of accused. Meanwhile, Khan's former principal secretary Azam Khan was also named as a "strong witness" in the case.

The FIA also attached Azam's statements, recorded under Sections 161 and 164, along with the challan, said the sources, adding that the PTI chief kept the cipher to himself and misused the state secret.

The sources also said that Khan had a copy of the cipher but he did not return it.

Moreover, the FIA also attached the transcript of Khan and Qureshi's speech on March 27 — the day when the former premier brandished a letter claiming it was a cipher from a foreign nation, that wanted his government to be removed from power.

The agency also submitted a list of 28 witnesses to the court with the challan after recording their statements under Section 161.

Imran Khan and Qureshi are currently in Adiala jail on judicial remand in the cipher case. 

The former prime minister was taken into custody after being sentenced to three years in prison in the Toshakhana case on 5 August. Initially, he was kept in Attock jail but later he was moved to Adiala jail.

What is ciphergate?

The controversy first emerged on 27 March 2022, when Khan — less than a month before his ouster in April 2022 — while addressing a public rally waved a letter before the crowd, claiming that it was a cipher from a foreign nation that had conspired with his political rivals to have PTI government overthrown.

He did not reveal the contents of the letter nor did he mention the name of the nation it came from. But a few days later, he accused the United States of conspiring against him and alleged that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had sought his removal.

The cipher was about former Pakistan ambassador to the US Majeed's meeting with Lu.

The former prime minister, claiming that he was reading contents from the cipher, said that "all will be forgiven for Pakistan if Imran Khan is removed from power".

Then on 31 March, the National Security Committee (NSC) took up the matter and decided to issue a "strong demarche" to the US for its "blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan".

Later, after his removal, then-prime minister Shehbaz Sharif convened a meeting of the NSC, which came to the conclusion that it had found no evidence of a foreign conspiracy in the cable.

In the two audio leaks that took the internet by storm and shocked the public after these events, the former prime minister, then-federal minister Asad Umar, and then-principle secretary Azam could allegedly be heard discussing the US cipher and how to use it to their advantage.

On 30 September, the federal cabinet took notice of the matter and constituted a committee to probe the contents of the audio leaks.

In October, the cabinet gave the green signal to initiate action against the former prime minister and handed over the case to the FIA.

Once FIA was given the task to probe the matter, it summoned Khan, Umar, and other leaders of the party, but the PTI chief challenged the summons and secured a stay order from the court.

The Lahore High Court (LHC), in July this year, recalled the stay order against the call-up notice to Khan by the FIA.