ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) granted bail to former prime minister Imran Khan and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi yesterday in the cypher case.

The bails have been granted against a surety bond of Rs100,000. A three-member bench of the SC comprising acting Chief Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah.

Imran Khan, the PTI’s founder, had approached the apex court for a bail relief in the case after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejected his post arrest bail application on October 27. It is pertinent to note that the bail in cypher case will not result in the former premier being released from jail.

Imran is currently under judicial remand in the £190 million case, and also under arrest in the Toshakhana case.The cypher case is related to a piece of paper that Imran had waved at a public rally last year ahead of a vote of confidence that he lost.

The former premier, later naming the US, had claimed that the cypher was ‘evidence’ of an ‘international conspiracy’ to topple his government.

Last week, on December 13, a special court established under the Official Secrets Act once again indicted former premier Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cypher case dealing a fresh blow to ex-PTI chairman’s chances of contesting Pakistan’s general election in February.

Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain read out the two-page charge-sheet under the Official Secrets Act, outlining three distinct charges against the defendants.

The court ruled that both Imran, in his capacity as prime minister, and Shah Mehmood Qureshi, as foreign minister, breached the Official Secrets Act.

During today’s hearing, Justice Masood observed that the statement of a witness is taken on oath, but Azam Khan’s - ex-principal secretary of former premier Imran who is a key witness in the case - statement was taken without one.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 23 2023

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