ISLAMABAD: A special court set up to try cases under the Official Secrets Act has summoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi tomorrow, Wednesday, after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) submitted charge sheets against them.
A case was registered against Khan and his top aide Qureshi in July under the Official Secrets Act of 1923 and is related to alleged diplomatic correspondence between Washington and Islamabad, which Khan has said proved a US conspiracy to topple his government. Washington has denied being involved in any such plan.
According to a copy of the First Information Report (FIR), or police complaint, seen by Arab News, Khan and Qureshi, who was the ex-PM’s foreign minister, are both accused of divulging the contents of a classified document to unauthorized individuals and distorting facts “with ulterior motives and personal gains, thereby jeopardizing state security interest.”
“Special court judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain issued notices to respondents saying that statements of witnesses are sufficient to summon the accused in the court,” Pakistan’s top news channel Geo reported. Other local media outlets also widely reported on the summons.
In its charge sheet, the FIA has said the former prime minister and PM were guilty of leaking state secrets, requesting the special court to carry out a trial and sentence them accordingly.
Khan is currently in jail in another case related to corruption for which he was sentenced to three years in prison in August. Qureshi is also on remand in jail in the cipher case.
The decision to prosecute Khan for exposing official secrets was taken by the outgoing government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif after Khan’s former principal secretary Azam Khan recorded a court statement saying a US diplomatic encrypted letter was manipulated by Khan in March 2022 to serve his political goals.
The 70-year-old former cricket hero lost power in a vote of no confidence in April 2022, in which he has said Washington got involved after his visit to Moscow. Khan waved a piece of paper at public gatherings saying he was holding a copy of a secret diplomatic letter, which spoke of dire consequences if he continued getting closer to Russia.
Khan had traveled to Moscow on the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and argues that the US and Pakistan’s own army were opposed to him for pursuing an independent foreign policy. Both deny the charge.
