ISLAMABAD: A special court in Pakistan on Tuesday postponed the indictment of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan till next week in a case related to accusations of leaking official secrets.

The saga, which has come to be popularly known as the cipher case, relates to an alleged diplomatic correspondence between Washington and Islamabad that Khan says was proof that his ouster in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in April 2022 was part of a US conspiracy to remove him. Washington has repeatedly denied Khan’s accusations. 

Khan says the US got involved in the plot to oust him after his visit to Moscow and less than a month before his removal, he waved a letter to a crowd during a public rally, claiming it was a cipher from a foreign nation calling for the end of his government. 

Khan later revealed that country to be the US and said the secret diplomatic letter spoke of dire consequences if he continued to get closer to Russia.

Khan had traveled to Moscow on the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and says the US and Pakistan’s own army, at the behest of the US, were opposed to him for pursuing an independent foreign policy, and thus banded together to overthrow his government. All three deny the charge.

“The hearing in the cipher case is adjourned until October 23,” a lawyer for Khan, Sher Afzal Marwat, told Arab News after Tuesday’s hearing. 

The indictment was postponed, the lawyer said, after Khan’s defense team argued that the indictment could not take place “without providing us copies of the challan [charge sheet].”

Khan is in jail since August 5 after he was convicted in a separate case involving the sale of state gifts. He was initially kept at the high-security Attock prison, but was later moved to Adiala jail. He has also been remanded in jail custody in the cipher case.

Khan says that the slew of cases registered against him after his ouster from office since April 2022 are all based on “politically motivated” charges.

When asked about Khan’s health and state of mind, his lawyer said:

“Imran Khan was content and upbeat … he has asked his workers to stay peaceful.”