The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday approved post-arrest bail for former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case.
The PTI founder and vice-chairman were indicted in the cipher case by a special court established under the Official Secrets Act 2023 after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared their jail trial null and void.
During proceedings today, the top court heard the petition against Khan and Qureshi’s October 23 indictment, as reported by Maryam Nawaz on Geo News.
At the outset of the hearing, Justice Masood remarked that the indictment that was challenged was already nullified by the IHC on November 21.
As a result, Imran and Qureshi’s Oct 23 indictments in the case also stood null and void, and the trial was conducted again.
Justice Masood said that the fresh indictment will not be affected by the previous proceedings that were declared invalid by the IHC.
At this, Khan’s counsel Hamid Khan argued that the trial was taking place on the previous charge sheet.
Justice Masood said that the petition against the old charge sheet has become infructuous. “If you have an objection to the fresh indictment then challenge it in the high court,” the judge told the lawyer.
To this, Hamid requested the court to wait for the Islamabad High Court’s decision today against the in-camera trial in the cipher case.
Khan’s other counsel, Barrister Salman Safdar, said that Hamid had made amendments to his petitions, requesting the court to accept it as a fresh one.
The court then adjourned the hearing on the plea against indictment while the hearing on bail pleas got underway.
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