Judicial Remand Of Imran Khan, Aide Extended By 14 Days In Cipher Case

Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan and his close aide Shah Mahmood Qureshi will continue to remain in jail till October 10 as a special court on Tuesday extended for the third time their judicial remand in a case related to the alleged disclosure of state secrets.

Mr Khan, also the chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, was arrested last month after a case was filed against him for allegedly violating the Official Secrets Act by disclosing a secret diplomatic cable (cipher) sent by the country's embassy in Washington last year in March.

Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain conducted the proceedings inside the high-security Attock Jail where the former prime minister has been detained since August 5 after his arrest following his conviction in the Toshakhana case. 

Mr Khan's sentence was suspended by the Islamabad High Court on August 29 in the Toshakana case, but he continues to remain in Attock prison in the cipher case.

After the hearing, the judge ordered to keep Imran Khan in judicial custody until October 10 to complete the probe.

It is the third time that Imran Khan, 70, has been sent to jail on remand. His judicial remand was initially extended till September 13 and then again till September 26, along with Qureshi's. The previous 14-day remand ended today.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi was presented before the special court at the Federal Judicial Complex in Islamabad. The two-time former foreign minister was brought to the court handcuffed.

The court authorities informed that his judicial remand in the case was also extended till October 10.

Qureshi, a 67-year-old former foreign minister, was arrested under the Official Secrets Act for violating the secrecy of the official cable sent by the Pakistani embassy in the US to the foreign office when he was the foreign minister.

As per the law ministry, Mr Khan's special court proceedings are being held in the Attock jail "due to security reasons".

Security was tightened outside the jail ahead of the hearing.

Talking to the media outside the court, Qureshi lamented that the PTI leadership was being punished for the crimes they hadn't committed.

"(Our) conscience is content, intentions are clean... (we) are innocent... God can change hearts and overturn decisions," he said.

When asked what would happen if his party is not allowed to contest polls, the vice chairman of the PTI said the polls would then be "meaningless" and "worthless".

"The importance of the polls would end without PTI participating in it," Mr Qureshi said, adding that the country will suffer an irreparable loss if transparent elections are not held.

Mr Khan was later shifted to high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi from Attock prison.

A day earlier, the Islamabad High Court ordered authorities to shift Mr Khan to the Adiala jail where all accused being tried in the courts of Islamabad and Rawalpindi are kept.

Earlier, the authorities were allowed to conduct hearings of the case in the jail due to security concerns.

The cricketer-turned-politician is charged with the violation of the Official Secrets Act in connection with the leakage of a confidential diplomatic cable from Pakistan's embassy in Washington.

The cipher case was filed last month against Mr Khan on the allegations of violating secret laws of the country in the matter of a cable sent by the Pakistan embassy in Washington in March last year.

In March last year, ahead of the vote of no-confidence that resulted in his ouster, Mr Khan pulled out a piece of paper - allegedly the cipher - from his pocket and waved it at a public rally in Islamabad, claiming it was the evidence of an "international conspiracy" being hatched to topple his government.

However, during the interrogation with the joint investigation team (JIT) in the jail on August 26, Mr Khan denied that the paper he waved at a public gathering last year was the cipher. He also admitted to losing the cipher, saying he couldn't recall where he kept it.

His principal secretary Azam Khan stated before a magistrate and the FIA that the Mr Khan used it for his 'political gains' and to avert a vote of no-confidence against him.

The purported cipher (secret diplomatic cable) contained an account of a meeting between US State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, and Pakistani envoy Asad Majeed Khan last year.

Of late, Mr Khan has come under increased scrutiny following the publication of a purported copy of the secret cable by the US media outlet The Intercept, with many in the previous government led by Shehbaz Sharif pointing fingers at the PTI chief for being the source of the leak.

Mr Khan, who served as the country's prime minister until April last year, currently faces around 180 cases. These cases primarily stem from incidents that occurred following the sacking of the Lahore corps commander's house on May 9.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)