A special court in Islamabad on Wednesday sent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi to a 14-day judicial remand in a cipher case. The special court has been set up to hear cases under the Official Secrets Act. Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) produced former foreign minister of Pakistan before the special court after the completion of his 2-day physical remand.
Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain conducted the hearing on the case.
According to report, the FIA prosecutor requested an extension in Qureshi’s physical remand. However, Judge Zulqarnain rejected the request and expressed displeasure over repeated pleas for an extension. Prior this month, Qureshi was arrested by the FIA’s Counter Terrorism Wing (CTW) after a case got registered against him as Interior Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar complained about him under Sections 5 & 9 of Official Secrets Act 1923 r/w 34 PP.
The FIR stated, “Consequent upon the conclusion of the enquiry No. 111/2023 dated 05.10.2022, registered in the CTW, FIA Islamabad, it transpired that former prime minister namely Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi, former foreign minister namely Shah Mahmood Qureshi and their other associates are involved in communications of information contained in secret classified document (Cipher Telegram received from Parep. Washington dated 7th March, 2022 to Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to the unauthorized person (i.e. public at large) by twisting the facts to achieve their ulterior motives and personal gains in a manner prejudicial to the interests of state security.” Previously, on August 28, a Islamabad special court extended the physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi for another 2 days in the cipher case. However, after Qureshi’s arrest on August 19, a local magistrate in Islamabad remanded the PTI Vice Chairman in Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) custody for a day. Later, a special court again handed him to the agency twice and declared the proceedings as in-camera.
