ISLAMABAD: The lawyer for PTI founder Imran Khan has told the Islamabad High Court that the case of the prosecution is not the loss of the original cipher but the loss of a copy of the cipher.
According to the law, if the cipher is lost, the IB and a senior security officer have to be informed about it. The Foreign Office officials did not do what they were supposed to do, and the disappearance of the cipher was neither brought to the notice of a senior officer nor was it reported to the IB, and nor a departmental inquiry initiated.
PTI founder Imran Khan did his duty by asking his military secretary and staff to look for the lost copy. The time to return the cipher copy is one year, but without waiting for the completion of this period he was issued a notice after seven months and it made a criminal case, the lawyer said.
IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb heard the appeals against the sentence handed down to Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Salman Safdar said that when you work in Ramazan, Eidi is sought before the Eid. The chief justice observed that there is no issue of the Eid as the court has to fulfil the legal requirements, and we will give the prosecutor as much time as he wants for arguments. The cipher was decoded, eight copies were prepared and went to different people, the prime minister’s secretary says that one copy sent to the PTI founder, and it got lost.
Continuing his arguments, Salman Safdar said that PTI founder was convicted on two counts of negligence and willful loss of documents.
The chief justice said that there can be no punishment in both cases as one can be convicted either under Section 5C or Section 5 (1)D of the Official Secrets Act.
Salman Safdar said that normally, the copy of the cipher is returned to the Foreign Office within a period of one year. He questioned why the notice was given after seven months without waiting for the completion of the one-year period after the cipher copy of the PTI founder was not returned. He said that a criminal case was also registered without any departmental inquiry.
Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb inquired which document he was relying on to return the cipher copy in one year. The court observed that according to the record, one of the witnesses said that the general practice is that the copy is returned within one year, but there is no document on record to show that the copy has to be returned within one year.
Salman Safdar said that foreign secretary Sohail Mehmood said in a statement that the prime minister’s cipher copy was lost. He said that Sohail Mehmood said that Azam Khan wanted a new copy of the cipher, which was denied and he was asked to find his lost copy.
Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb inquired whether Azam Khan is the only witness of handing over the cipher copy to the PTI founder, and if Azam Khan’s statement is removed, there is no witness of handing over the copy to the PTI founder.
Salman Safdar said there is a book “Security of Classified Matters in Government Department” related to the working of the cipher, which is secret.
FIA prosecutor Hamid Ali Shah said it is a top secret. Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb inquired whether the trial court judge had a copy of it.
Salman Safdar said that this copy was not even with the judge and we were also not allowed to show it.
The chief justice said that some of its sections have also been written in the bail decision. He remarked that if the cipher copy is lost, the maximum punishment can be of up to two years, but the trial court awarded the maximum punishment of two years, which is excessive. A further hearing on the appeals will be held on April 16.
