Pak court adjourns till next week ex-PM Imran Khan's indictment in cipher case

A special court in Pakistan on Tuesday adjourned till next week the indictment of former prime minister Imran Khan in the cipher case.

The case pertains to a secret diplomatic document that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Khan used to criticise his opponents for allegedly orchestrating his ouster from power in April last year.

The document reportedly went missing from his possession. Khan's party alleges that the document contained a threat from the US to oust Khan from office.

Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain on Tuesday began the in-camera hearing of the cipher case at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.

Barrister Salman Safdar and Khalid Yousuf Chaudhry were present as 71-year-old Khan’s counsels, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s wife and daughter also reached the court. However, it was not confirmed whether they were allowed to attend the hearing, it said.

As per the court’s orders of October 9, both PTI leaders were expected to be indicted in the case on Tuesday.

However, the indictment could not take place on Tuesday with the court only distributing the copies of the challan (charge sheet) among the suspects, the report said.

Subsequently, the court decided to adjourn the hearing till next week, it said.

Speaking to the media after the hearing, lawyer Sher Afzal Marwat said that Khan and Qureshi will now be indicted during the next hearing.

Khan was ousted through a vote of no-confidence 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 PTI chief was lodged in the Attock District Jail to serve his prison term.

Later, his sentence was suspended by the Islamabad High Court, but then he was arrested in the cipher case.