In a significant relief to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has annulled their conviction in the cipher case. The IHC Chief Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb delivered the verdict on Monday, setting aside the 10-year prison sentences handed down to Khan and Qureshi in January.
The cipher case revolved around allegations that Imran Khan had publicly disclosed contents of a classified diplomatic document, a secret cable sent by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington to the government in Islamabad. The case was seen as politically motivated, and the PTI leadership had consistently denied any wrongdoing.
While this verdict brings relief to Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, they are unlikely to be released from prison immediately, as they face charges in other cases, including the iddat and May 9 cases. The PTI leadership has hailed the verdict as a vindication of their stance, and PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan expressed hope that the judiciary would provide justice in other cases as well.
The controversy first emerged on March 27, 2022, when Khan – less than a month before his ouster in April 2022 – while addressing a public rally waved a letter before the crowd, claiming that it was a cipher from a foreign nation that had conspired with his political rivals to have PTI government overthrown.
He did not reveal the contents of the letter nor did he mention the name of the nation it came from. But a few days later, he accused the United States of conspiring against him and alleged that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had sought his removal.
The cipher was about former Pakistan ambassador to the US Majeed’s meeting with Lu. The former prime minister, claiming that he was reading contents from the cipher, said that “all will be forgiven for Pakistan if Imran Khan is removed from power”. Then on March 31, the National Security Committee (NSC) took up the matter and decided to issue a “strong demarche” to the US for its “blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan”.
Later, after his removal, then-prime minister Shehbaz Sharif convened a meeting of the NSC, which came to the conclusion that it had found no evidence of a foreign conspiracy in the cable.
In the two audio leaks that took the internet by storm and shocked the public after these events, the former prime minister, then-federal minister Asad Umar, and then-principle secretary Azam could allegedly be heard discussing the US cipher and how to use it to their advantage.
Celebrations
The former ruling party on Monday celebrated the victory in the legal battle which seemed to pave the way for Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s release. Commenting on the IHC’s verdict, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that a “baseless and unfounded” case came to its conclusion today. He added that the PTI founder spent 10 months in jail due to the cipher case – the controversy first emerged on March 27, 2022.
He claimed that the former prime minister would come out of jail very soon and pinned hopes on the judiciary to provide justice to the embattled party. The politico added that all “politically-motivated cases based on vengeance” against the PTI leadership would also be nullified.
Similarly, the PTI-backed lawmakers in the Punjab Assembly also chanted slogans after the IHC acquitted the PTI founder and the party’s vice-chairman in the cipher case. The PTI lawmakers thumped their desks in the House in support of the former prime minister.