PTI rejects cipher case hearing in Attock jail

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s core committee Wednesday announced it would not accept the hearing of the party chairman Imran Khan’s cipher case hearing in the Attock Jail.

In its meeting, the committee claimed that PTI chairman has been deprived of his fundamental right to a fair trial, as it held detailed consultations on the strategy for vigorous prosecution against the jail trial.

It contended that the party chairman was being punished for taking a clear stand on the real freedom of the nation and saying “absolutely no”. The forum alleged PTI chairman’s secret trial in jail makes it clear that the government was trying to hide something from the nation.

“To keep ambitions and goals hidden, the former prime minister is being deprived of a free and fair trial while his legal team has challenged the secret trial in the jail in the court. We want the honourable court to hear the matter immediately and issue orders to stop the worst vendetta against Imran Khan,” the committee said.

It said the political vendetta against Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi through the cipher case should also be stopped immediately. It insisted there is no legal justification to prosecute the former prime minister and former foreign minister under the Official Secrets Act.

The committee claimed it is a fact that the cipher is still present in the Foreign Office in its original condition. It explained, according to the rules, the cipher never went out of the Foreign Office, which has been confirmed by former interior minister Rana Sanaullah as well as the FIA.

The committee noted this fact proves baseless the allegation that this cipher was lost somewhere by the former prime minister. The forum claimed the cipher was declassified by the federal cabinet under its powers, and after declassification, the Official Secrets Act cannot be implemented, which makes the case die on its own.

After the publication of the text of the cipher, the core committee said the fact that there was interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan has also been fully exposed.

The committee wondered how a former prime minister and foreign minister of Pakistan can be punished for taking a stand against blatant interference in Pakistan’s internal affairs. “This case is a continuation of the ongoing series of breaking the morale of chairman Imran Khan and crushing the PTI. These attempts to break his resolve and courage or to make the PTI politically irrelevant will not succeed in any way,” it said. The meeting highly appreciated the message sent by PTI President Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi from jail in which he said he was, is and will remain with Imran Khan till the last breath.