KARACHI: Though former prime minister Imran Khan and his associates could be tried by military courts on charges of leaking the contents of a secret document, the trial could have little to no consequences for them, Pakistani legal experts said on Sunday.

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday after a case against him and Khan was registered last Tuesday under the Official Secrets Act of 1923.

The case was registered after the agency started investigating the use of a diplomatic cable called a cipher by the two officials since Khan mentioned it in a public rally ahead of a no-trust vote against him. Khan used the cipher to establish that an international conspiracy was at play to remove him from power, waving the document at a public rally last year in March and later revealing bits and pieces of its information for public consumption.

Speaking to Arab News, senior lawyer Salman Akram Raja said the fact that the case has been registered under the Official Secrets Act could potentially lead to it being referred for trial in a military court. “This aspect holds significant implications that the case might be directed to a military court,” he said.

In the FIR filed on Tuesday, Khan and Qureshi have been accused of “wrongful communication/use of official secret information and illegal retention of cipher telegram (Official Secret Document) with malafide intention.” Additionally, the FIR indicated that the involvement of Khan’s former principal secretary, Muhammad Azam Khan, ex-federal minister Asad Umar, and other associates would be determined as the probe continues.

“Under the Official secret acts, a political leader or a common citizen can be tried in military court,” Raja explained. “Military courts are headed by serving military officers and the appeal goes to the army chief and thereafter, there is little scope of judicial review.”

Pakistan’s former attorney general and senior Supreme Court lawyer, Anwar Mansoor Khan, however, said registering the case under the Official Secrets Act may have no implications for the former prime minister as the cipher related to an individual who was subsequently removed from office.

“The cipher was aimed at Imran Khan, and the threat conveyed by the cipher was directed at him,” Khan told Arab News. “He was later ousted from office, a demand made in the cipher. So, this is not a secret per se since it targeted a specific individual.”

The lawyer emphasized that the cipher’s contents were not leaked by Khan to an American news website, Intercept, adding that he was incarcerated when the incident took place. He said even if it is proven that the former prime minister is responsible for leaking the secret document’s contents, the core argument would remain unchanged, and he could not be sentenced based on the merit of the case.

Prominent Pakistani lawyer and human rights activist, Jiban Nasir, said the complaint filed against Khan and his aides was political in nature.

“While it names Imran Khan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, and Azam Khan, it does use a vague term of “associates” for the others accused which means those names, if any, will be provided as and when it will suit the state to target any particular individual,” Nasir told Arab News.

Nasir said the only specific allegation in the case relates to unlawful retention of the cipher, which carries a penalty of up to two years of imprisonment under Section 5 (3) (b) of the Official Secrets Act 1923.

“However, it appears difficult to bring the actions complained of under the ambit of Section 5 (2) (a) which carries a more severe punishment of death and/or imprisonment up to 14 years as the Prosecution would have to prove that disclosing details of the cipher as alleged was intended to directly or indirectly benefit a foreign power,” he added.

Senior PTI leader Syed Zulfikar Bokhari agreed with Pakistan’s former attorney general, saying that the cipher’s contents were leaked by an American news outlet, not Khan.

“There have been more than 200 FIRs lodged against Khan on baseless charges,” he said. “This recent case is just another addition, as Khan neither leaked any document nor did his disclosure of a state’s threat to a prime minister amount to revealing an official secret.”