Daily Times

The Lahore police on Sunday arrested PTI senior vice president incarcerated Shah Mahmood Qureshi in eight more cases.

According to details, a special team of Lahore police reached Adiala Jail, where the former foreign minister is currently incarcerated in May 9 cases, to take him into custody. The investigation team sought permission from the court to transfer Shah Mahmood Qureshi to Lahore, but the court denied the request due to “security concerns”. However, the court granted a three-day physical remand of the PTI leader on the request of the investigation team.

The police team recorded Shah Mahmood’s statement at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. He will be presented in the Anti-Terrorism Court via video link.

On Jan 30, a special court established under the Official Secrets Act handed both former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi 10 years in jail in the cipher case.

The cipher case pertains to a diplomatic document that the Federal Investigation Agency’s charge sheet alleges was never returned by Imran. The PTI claimed the document contained a threat from the United States to oust Imran as prime minister.

Imran Khan and Qureshi were facing trial in cipher case in Adiala Jail from last year for ‘distorting’ the facts of the diplomatic cipher. Both the PTI leaders were accused of conspiracy to misuse the contents of the cipher to fulfill nefarious purposes.

The first information report (FIR) was registered on August 15 under the Official Secrets Act. It was registered on the complaint of the Home Secretary. Former prime minister and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were nominated in the report, while names of former principal secretary Azam Khan and former planning minister Asad Umar were also mentioned.