While media reports said on Wednesday that Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi had been indicted in the cipher case, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s lawyers said that the the charge was never framed as long as they were in court.

Taimur Malik, who was part of PTI’s legal team, posted on X that he was ‘surprised’ when he saw media reports that Khan and Qureshi had been indicted.

“Neither of them were asked to sign the charge sheet before the Court was adjourned for tomorrow and we were present in the Court till the end,” he added.

He added that the legal team had made detailed arguments to ask for an open trial where media representatives would be allowed and relevant documents are presented.

Another member of the legal team, Salman Safdar, told Voice of America that he had stayed in the courtroom for two and a half hours but had not seen charges being framed.

He also echoed Malik to say that no charge sheets had been signed.

He added that if the proceedings had taken place in open court, such confusions would not have taken place.

The news had broken when Federal Investigation Agency’s Zulfiqar Abbas Naqvi had told reporters outside Adiala Jail that the charge had been framed and Khan and Qureshi had pleaded not guilty.