A special court has decided to indict former Prime Minister Imran Khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case on October 17.

The case was heard in the Adiala Jail by Session Judge Abu Alhasnaat Malik on Monday. Both Khan and Qureshi are currently incarcerated in the jail since their arrests in August.

Judge Zulqurnain announced that Khan and Qureshi will be indicted on October 17 and the government’s witnesses will also be summoned to the court to make their statements.

Monday’s hearing also saw challans being formally handed over to the two politicians. The challans, prepared by the Federal Investigation Agency, have asked the court to sentence the Khan and Qureshi after trial.

The case is registered under the Official Secrets Act and accuses Khan of divulging the contents of a classified cipher written by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington.

According to sources, FIA’s challan accuses Khan violated the law by keeping the cipher with him instead of returning him. A copy of the cipher has allegedly been ‘lost’.

The FIA reportedly submitted a list of 28 witnesses along with the challan. It also attached 161 statement from 27 of these witnesses.

Imran Khan has been in jail since August 5, when he was arrested minutes after being declared guilty of corrupt practices in the Toshakhana case. Although he managed to get his jail sentence suspended on August 29, he could not be freed as he had already been arrested in the cipher case from jail.

The cipher first emerged in March 2022, when then Prime Minister Imran Khan showed a document, supposedly the cipher, in a public rally in Islamabad. Khan alleged that the cipher was proof that a foreign government was conspiring to oust him from power. He was removed from office in a no-confidence vote days later.