ISLAMABAD: On Friday, the federal government lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court (SC) challenging the Islamabad High Court’s decision to annul the jail trial of the PTI founder in a cipher case.
The respondents named in the plea include the PTI founder, special court judge, director-general of the Federal Investigation Agency, Inspector General (IG), deputy commissioner, chief commissioner Islamabad, and others.
The government’s plea argued that the high court had “neglected” crucial facts in the case and invalidated the jail trial of the former prime minister in the cipher case. It contended that the high court lacks the authority to overturn the decision of the special court.
Raja Rizwan Abbasi submitted the plea on behalf of the federal government, urging the Supreme Court to overturn the Islamabad High Court’s verdict dated November 21, 2023.
The cipher case originated with the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) on August 15 under the Official Secrets Act, prompted by a complaint from the Home Secretary.
The report implicated former Prime Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and former Principal Secretary Azam Khan and Planning Minister Asad Umar were also mentioned.
The authorities determined that Azam Khan and Asad Umar were involved in the misuse of classified documents, leading to the initiation of action against them.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
