- The special court previously extended the former PM’s judicial remand in the same case until September 26
- Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi have been charged under Official Secrets Act for misusing diplomatic cable
ISLAMABAD: A special court on Thursday turned down the bail application of former prime minister Imran Khan and his party vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a case involving the misuse of a confidential diplomatic cable for political purposes.
The two Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders have been facing a case under the Official Secrets Act of 1923 which was registered against them last month and related to a diplomatic dispatch called cipher by a former Pakistani ambassador in Washington to the country’s foreign ministry in Islamabad.
Khan mentioned the cable for the first time at a public rally in federal capital just a few days before his ouster in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April of last year, telling PTI supporters that its content proved a US conspiracy to topple his government.
While the US denied being involved in any such conspiracy, Pakistani authorities accused the former premier of compromising the state’s secret communication system with its diplomatic missions abroad, setting up the special court that has been holding his prison trial in District Jail, Attock.
“The bail application has been rejected,” Naeem Haider Panjutha, Khan’s spokesman on legal affairs, wrote in a short social media post. “Sad state of the justice system.”
The court extended the former prime minister’s judicial remand for two weeks until September 26 during a hearing held a day earlier.
Panjutha announced shortly afterwards the judge had assured Khan’s legal team of hearing his bail application on Thursday, adding that the court should take a decision on the matter after hearing arguments from both sides.
The ex-premier has been in prison since his arrest in a separate corruption case from his residence in Lahore on August 5.
Qureshi, who served as his foreign minister, was also taken into custody by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) last month shortly after he addressed a news conference, saying his party members were facing harassment from the state.
Both the PTI leaders were said to be “involved in the communication of information contained in [the] secret classified document … to unauthorized persons (ie public at large).”
According to a complaint lodged with the FIA against them, they misused the diplomatic cable “by twisting facts” to suit their political objectives.
“The actions by the accused persons directly / indirectly benefited the interest of foreign powers and caused loss to the State of Pakistan,” said the complaint.
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