Lahore: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on June 3 acquitted former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders had moved the court to seek relief after a special court sentenced both of them to 10 years in prison in January this year.
The cipher case involves allegations against Khan that he never returned a diplomatic document sent by the US that allegedly contained threats by Washington DC to topple his government.
IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hasan observed that there was a lack of evidence in the case as the primary issue of the cipher and its contents were never presented before the court. The development is of prime significance to both Khan and Qureshi as it not only trims down their 10-year prison sentence but also vindicates their stance that the earlier verdict given by a special court was based on political motives to keep them and their party out of the election race.
"Today is a day of celebration for all Pakistanis. Truth has won and justice has prevailed as the baseless case has been quashed," said PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan. He insisted that Khan, who has spent 10 months in jail in the case, will walk free soon as such "baseless cases" are framed only for "political victimization".
Despite the relief from the IHC, Khan and Qureshi are expected to stay in jail due to convictions in other cases. The duo was first indicted in the Cipher case in October last year. However, they got relief from the IHC as it termed the government’s notification for a jail trial “erroneous” and canceled the entire proceedings.
They were then indicted for a second time in December, following which their trial began in a special court. As the trial was underway, the Supreme Court granted the duo post-arrest bails in the cipher case. Imran remained in jail as he was charged under other cases as well but Qureshi was not released either, and he was re-arrested in a fresh case.
