A special court in Pakistan on Wednesday extended the judicial custody of former Prime Minister Imran Khan till September 13 in a case related to the alleged disclosure of classified messages, leading to his early release from jail despite getting bail a day earlier in a corruption case. Hopes were dashed.
Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain gives verdict in the case of missing documents related to confidential message
Judge Abul Hasnat Zulkarnain, who reached Punjab’s Attock jail for the hearing, gave the verdict in the case of missing documents related to confidential messages. This document was waved by Khan during a political rally before his ouster last year.
The hearing took place in Attock District Jail
The hearing of the case was held in Attock District Jail after the approval of the Law Ministry amid security concerns expressed by the Home Ministry. According to Geo News, Judge Zulqarnain extended Khan’s judicial custody till September 13, which means he will remain in jail for now.
Former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was also given judicial custody for 14 days in the same case.
The court, recently set up to hear cases filed under the Official Secrets Act, also sent Khan’s close aide and two-time foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to 14-day judicial custody in the same case.
Imran Khan is in jail since August 5
Qureshi, 67, vice president of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was arrested in August. He appeared in the court amid tight security. Authorities on Tuesday decided to hear the case inside the Attock district jail, where Khan, 70, is lodged since August 5 after his conviction in a corruption case.
Imran got bail in a case
On Tuesday, a two-member bench of the Islamabad High Court had suspended Khan’s sentence, but he could not be released as the judge hearing the case related to the disclosure of confidential messages ordered him to be kept in jail and produced for trial. Had ordered.
Permission was given to enter the jail and meet Khan
Khan’s five-member legal team, headed by lawyer Salman Safdar, attended the court hearing in jail, the report said. According to reports, the team was initially denied entry, but was later allowed to enter the jail and meet Khan.
Only three lawyers were allowed to represent the former Prime Minister
Khan’s party said only three lawyers were allowed to represent the former prime minister during the hearing. Khan’s lawyer Sher Afzal Marwat filed the petition saying that the Law and Justice Ministry’s August 29 notification on holding trials inside jail was against the law as it violates the spirit of open trial.
The appointment of the judge of the court is also challenged
He argued that the proceedings should be held in the judicial complex in Islamabad and if the purpose is to keep the proceedings secret then the hearing should be held in camera. Khan also challenged the appointment of an anti-terrorism court judge as a judge in the special court set up for his case registered under the country’s Official Secrets Act.
Many people were made defendants
Khan made the Law and Justice Ministry, the Home Ministry, the head of the Federal Investigation Agency, the Commissioner of Islamabad, the Islamabad Inspector General of Police and the superintendents of Adiala and Attock jails as defendants in the case.
PTI spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari said in a statement, “When Imran Khan requested to use technology for his daily hearing, it was broadcast as if he was trying to avoid it. Now, the hearing has been ordered from his jail cell. Why can’t this be done live on TV or at least in the presence of their friends and family.”
He said, “The world should see whether there is any element of justice in this illegal trial. The plan was to crush and eliminate PTI…Instead the Constitution and the law were brutally murdered…” The case initiated earlier this month alleged that Khan and others secretly Violated relevant laws.
In March last year, ahead of the vote on the no-confidence motion, Khan took out a piece of paper from his pocket and waved it at a public rally in Islamabad, claiming it was proof that there was an “international conspiracy” to topple his government. A conspiracy is being hatched. Khan had to be removed from power due to the no-confidence motion. However, during questioning by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in jail on August 26, Khan had denied that the paper he had waved at a public meeting last year was a confidential document. He had also admitted the loss of the confidential document and said that he did not remember where he had kept it.