An Islamabad special court has approved the Federal Investigation Agency’s request for the physical custody of PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi. This pertains to a case involving a missing cipher that was supposedly under the control of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
According to the details, the court reserved its judgment after hearing arguments from both sides. Later, the court granted the FIA a three-day physical remand of former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Read more: Qureshi, Fawad booked for fueling hate against state institutions
In Islamabad, the federal government has established a specialized court to address cases filed nationwide under the Official Secrets Act. The video of Qureshi’s arrival at the court was shared by the previous governing party on platform X.
سائفر کیس میں شاہ محمود قریشی کو چار روزہ ریمانڈ مکمل ہونے پر آفیشل سیکرٹ ایکٹ کی خصوصی عدالت پہنچا دیا گیا
سائفر کی سازش میں ملوث باجوہ اور PDM کو ریاست پاکستان نے سر آنکھوں پر بٹھایا ہوا ہے اور جنہوں نے پاکستان کے خلاف اس سازش کو بےنقاب کیا اور پاکستان کو خوددار ملک بنانے کی… pic.twitter.com/mv3oJbfur0
— PTI (@PTIofficial) August 25, 2023
سائفر کیس!!!
شاہ محمود قریشی کا 3 روزہ جسمانی ریمانڈ منظور، FIA کے حوالے کر دیا گیا۔ pic.twitter.com/HpDlVQsNAi
— Salman Akram Raja ˢᵃᵗⁱʳᵉ (@Salmanrajaakram) August 25, 2023
Imran Khan, who was removed from power through a parliamentary vote in April of the prior year, had claimed on March 27, 2022, that a plan had been orchestrated by Washington to depose him from his position. He displayed the cipher at a public gathering to support his assertions. The United States has consistently refuted these accusations, labeling them as “completely untrue.”
Meanwhile, Shah Mahmood Qureshi has consistently restated that the US cipher was indeed genuine, providing support for the leader of the party’s contentions that the US played a role in orchestrating his removal from office by endorsing the opposition’s vote of no confidence in April last year.
Amid this backdrop, Qureshi has been booked in the case along with PTI chief Imran Khan under the Official Secrets Act. Both of them have been accused of sharing the contents of the cipher with unauthorised persons to achieve “ulterior motives”.
Read more: Shah Mahmood Qureshi Arrested from Islamabad Residence
The FIR was registered under sections 5 (wrongful communication of information) and 9 (attempt to commit or abet the commission of an offence under this Secrets Act) of the Official Secrets Act read with Section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.