Daily Times

Sometimes, conclusions end up raising more questions than they wish to answer. A court in Islamabad, by nullifying the sentence of Imran Khan and his close aide, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in a case related to the leaking of state secrets, sparked immense debate across the nation. Today, the bench believed that no evidence had been furnished and therefore, the accused were free to walk. But as PTI twists the short order to fit its own agenda, it would be a worthwhile exercise to look at the past few months of the drawn-out saga. One fine evening, having apparently exhausted every other avenue to score brownie points with his voters, Mr Khan hatched a new conspiracy. Surely, his stainless steel edifice could not be shattered without the help of Trojan horses. Lo and Behold! A white letter was furnished as evidence of an international conspiracy being hatched to topple his government. That he was still a sitting prime minister and not the captain of a cricket team did not matter. That any miscalculation on his part would result in a disaster, something Pakistan was not ready for did not matter. What mattered was a round of thumping applause. And that, he did get. Something he keeps getting. Two years ago, he had received that boost to his ego from charged supporters. Today, he is getting the same from one of the highest benches in the country. Ever since August 2023, when the Federal Investigation Agency had registered an FIR under the Official Secrets Act against the accused duo, the entire nation has looked on helplessly as a matter of grave importance gets reduced to a ping-pong match between the state and the judiciary. A charge sheet by the Special Court believed that Mr Khan had “illegally retained and wrongly communicated” the cypher, sentencing the founder and the then foreign minister to ten years in prison for this irresponsible behaviour. While it was believed that Principal Secretary Azam Khan’s account had further strengthened the prosecution’s arguments, the judges of the Islamabad High Court saw it better to toss the entire issue of national security into the dustbin.

What mattered was a round of thumping applause. And that, he did get. Something he keeps getting.

The entire merits of the order remain to be seen considering only a short order has been announced for now. What the judges made of a sworn statement by Mr Azam Khan and of the tenacity of the former prime minister to abuse his influence over millions to turn a critical issue of national importance into a street discussion would only be clear after a few days. But for now, does the political class, especially Mr Khan, who claims to be the true representative of Pakistan believe that he can thrive while remaining indifferent to the country’s security and the issues and institutions related to it?

Because of its highly sensitive nature, the cypher case warrants thorough extremely meticulous proceedings. Any undue relief can easily be construed as a token of encouragement for anti-national propagandists, who can now target other secrets in a bid to harm the country.

The fact of the matter remains that the prosecution has done nothing to retain the crucial foundational document. The missing link. The only link. The white piece of paper that was flashed before Pakistani men and women as evidence of other countries’ nefarious agendas is yet to be produced before the masses. Should today’s verdict be taken as yet another reminder of the ongoing judicial facilitations? So far, the courts have provided relief to Imran Khan in the Sita White case, the Toshakhana case, and the 190 Million case. Even if some cases deserved to be dismissed in the name of political motivations, can anyone believe that someone like Mr Khan who spent years basking in the glory of an immortal pedestal did nothing wrong whatsoever?

Political impressions aside, verdicts by the higher judiciary are supposed to rise above assumptions and personal inclinations. But may it be a misleading greeting from Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial or these rounds of reliefs, what should one make of the continuous assaults on the impartiality of decisions? Should it be a surprise then that year after year, international organisations castigate Pakistan’s judiciary for its shortcomings? More on the cypher saga later.

The writer is OpEd Editor (Daily Times) and can be reached at durenayab786@gmail.com. She tweets @DureAkram