Bail petitions filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan and Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case hit another hurdle after the judge on duty went on bail.

Khan and Qureshi’s lawyers arrived in the special court on Monday only to be told by the staff that Judge Abu Alhasnaat Zulqurnain had gone on leave till September 8 on account of his wife’s illness.

The lawyers then made their way to Duty Judge Raja Jawad Abbas’ court to request him to hear the case. However, the judge told them that despite being incharge of 24 courts, he had no power to hear a case under trial in a special court.

When the PTI lawyers pressed him to suggest a solution, the judge replied that they should either get the case marked to him through the Islamabad High Court, or wait till September 9, when Judge Zulqurnain returns.

PTI’s lawyer told the Judge Abbas that as duty judge he could hear bail petitions. However, the lawyer said that if the judge thought he was ‘helpless’, they could approach the high court.

The judge replied that he was not helpless and told the PTI lawyer that he would not have used the word if he really knew the judge.

The court then asked both parties to present arguments over whether a duty judge can hear a bail petition.

Imran Khan is in Attock Jail while Shah Mahmood Qureshi is being held in Adiala Jail in the cipher case. The case, filed under the Official Secrets Act, accuses them of revealing the contents of cipher from the Pakistani embassy in Washington despite it being a classified document.

This story is being updated.