The Supreme Court rejected appeals filed for the investigation of the cipher cited by Imran Khan as evidence of a ‘regime-change’ conspiracy on Wednesday.

The in-chamber proceeding was presided over by Justice Faez Isa and heard three petitioners.

The petitions were filed by Advocate Zulfiqar Bhutta, Syed Tariq Badar and Naeem ul Hassan and had been rejected by the registrar as inadmissible.

However, Justice Isa rejected the appeal saying that any investigation in the matter had to be conducted by the Election Commission and the apex court had no power in the matter.

Justice Isa remarked that the petition involved dealing with foreign affairs which is not the court’s domain. He also asked who was prime minister when the cipher was created.

When the counsel replied that Imran Khan had been prime minister at the time, Justice Isa remarked that he had all the authority to initiate an investigation.

When the counsel said that the cipher had led to violations of the funadmental rights of the citizens of Pakistan, the judge asked which rights had been violated. He further said that he did not think it was a matter of fundamental rights either.

Before disposing off the appeals, the judge also said that he would have to read the cipher to fully understand whether it merited a response.