IHC reserves  verdict on Imran’s plea against cypher indictment

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has reserved its verdict on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s plea against the cypher indictment.

According to the  24NewsHD TV channel, the IHC Chief Justice Amir Farooq reserved the verdict that would be pronounced tomorrow.

The hearing started with objections against the proceedings of the indictment. Salman Safdar represented the former prime minister.

He told the court that it took 10 days to make bail arguments and the CJ said the same is the case with him.

“I told you that this kind of case came for the first time. Both the parties argued well, so I am also taking time,” the court remarked

Imran Khan yesterday moved IHC against his indictment by a special court formed under the Official Secrets Act. Earlier this week, the special court indicted Khan and his deputy Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

They were charged with violating the secret law by misusing and misplacing the diplomatic cable based on conversations between Pakistan’s envoy to Washington and the US diplomat during the tenure of the Khan-led government last year.

Special court judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain read out the charges, which said that Imran Khan “illegally retained and wrongly communicated” the cypher.

However, Imran Khan through his counsel made a request to the IHC to declare the indictment null and void citing procedural lapses.

He contended that the special court indicted the PTI chief in haste and also wanted to hold hasty trial proceedings.

The petitioner said the IHC had not issued any direction to the special court to hear the case on a daily basis and conclude the trial early.