No proof of cipher in IK’s custody: HC

ISLAMABAD: In a fresh twist in the cipher case, the Islamabad High Court has observed that the Federal Investigation Agency has nothing to prove that jailed former prime minister Imran Khan retained the confidential diplomatic cable and it went missing from his possession.

An Islamabad High Court (IHC) division bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, who on Tuesday resumed hearing appeals filed by Khan and his then foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi against their conviction in the cipher case, questioned whether on not there was any record available with the prosecuting agency to prove that the jailed former premier retained the cipher.

PTI founder Khan was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment along with ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case in which the former premier showed a piece of paper allegedly a copy of a diplomatic cipher at a public rally in Islamabad, claiming it as proof of a conspiracy against his government by a foreign power, referring to US diplomat Donald Lu. Khan had brandished the cipher paper just two weeks before the ouster of the PTI government in April 2022 through a vote of

Khan brandished cipher paper just 2 weeks before the ouster of the PTI govt in April 2022 through a vote of no-confidence

no-confidence. Earlier, a foreign ministry report submitted to the IHC containing details of the cipher’s distribution suggested that almost every recipient of the cipher returned the confidential document after a case was registered against Khan, Dawn News reported.