Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan to be indicted in cipher case on October 17

Pakistans former prime minister Imran Khan will be indicted in the cipher case on October 17 a court here announced as hearing in the case officially began on MondayThe hearing was presided over by special court Judge Abdul Hasnaat Zulqarnain Prosecutor Zulfiqar Abbas Naqvi Khans counsel Salman Safdar and his party leader Shah Mehmood Qureshis daughter and son were also present at the hearing at Adiala jail in RawalpindiKhan 71 was arrested in August after a case was filed against him for allegedly violating the Official Secrets Act by disclosing a secret diplomatic cable cipher sent by the countrys embassy in Washington in March last yearDuring Mondays hearing copies of the chargesheet were distributed among the lawyers of Khan and his coaccused Qureshi the former foreign ministerThe PTI chiefs lawyers also met him briefly in the prison van The Express Tribune newspaper reportedProsecutor Naqvi informed the court that all the necessary copies had been provided to the court Later the court issued directives for all government witnesses to be summoned along with the chargesheet on October 17 the report saidPreviously the Federal Investigation Agency FIA had claimed that Khan was guilty of breaching the Official Secrets Act of 1923 and deserved to be punished as per the lawAlso read Election Commission announces dates for upcoming assembly polls in five states voting from November 7 to 30 counting on December 3The charge sheet submitted by the FIA to a special court also accused Khans key ally Qureshi of facilitating the former prime ministerThe cipher case concerns a diplomatic cable which reportedly went missing from Khans possession Khan had repeatedly said before and after the noconfidence motion against him last year that the cipher pointed to a conspiracy to remove him from the prime ministers officeKhan was ousted through a vote of noconfidence in April 2022 He was incarcerated on August 5 this year after an Islamabad court sentenced him to three years in prison in the Toshakhana case The Pakistan TehreekeInsaf PTI chief was lodged in the Attock District Jail to serve his prison termLater his sentence was suspended by the Islamabad High Court but then he was arrested in the cipher case and remained in the Attock jail on judicial remandPTI Vice Chairman Qureshi the foreign minister in the Khanled government is also implicated in the case In the last hearing of the case on September 26 their judicial remand was extended till October 10This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever