Islamabad, November 13 (Language) Pakistan’s caretaker government on Monday filed a complaint against the country’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his close aide and former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi for allegedly leaking secret information and violating the country’s laws. Approved to prosecute in jail.
Both Khan (71) and Qureshi (67) are currently lodged in Adiala jail on judicial remand.
The case is based on an alleged violation of the Official Secrets Act regarding a communication by the Pakistan Embassy in Washington in March 2022. ,
Due to security concerns, a proposal regarding jail trial against Khan and Qureshi in Adiala jail was presented by the Law Ministry and the Cabinet had given its consent to it.
The ministry said in the motion that it had issued a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the jail trial on August 29, which was requested by the Interior Ministry and Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain, who is heading the special court hearing the case. .
The approval by the court comes as the Islamabad High Court (IHC) is scheduled to hear the appeal filed by Khan against his jail trial on November 14.
The Attorney General leading the government will present arguments in the court in favor of the jail hearing.
Khan’s plea against jail trial was rejected by a single bench of the IHC on 16 October, which held that there was no apparent mala fide behind Khan being tried in jail in the Sifar case.
Khan has challenged the decision by filing an inter-court appeal.
Both Khan and Qureshi have been convicted and their formal trial began last month with the recording of statements of witnesses in the special court, which is hearing the case in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail due to security reasons.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman was arrested in August after a criminal case was registered against him.
The purported cipher (secret diplomatic cable) details a meeting last year between US State Department officials, including Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, and Pakistani envoy Asad Majeed Khan.
Language Ranjan Naresh
Naresh
