The Islamabad High Court has sought responses from the law ministry and other respondents on PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s application against the law ministry’s notification for allowing the cipher case trial to be heard in Attock Jail.
IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq heard the case.
PTI lawyer Sher Afzal Marwat informed the court that two objections had been raised by the court’s registrar upon the filing of the petition.
Justice Farooq asked: “Was the court venue shifted?” The PTI lawyer answered that the court designated to hear cases filed under the Secrets Act was that of a magistrate.
“Authorising an anti-terrorism court judge to hear cases filed under the Official Secrets Act is wrong,” Marwat asserted.
Marwat urged the court to fix the next hearing for the coming week as it was an urgent matter. To this Justice Farooq adjourned the hearing till the next week.
The petition, which was filed on Wednesday through PTI lawyer Sher Afzal Marwat, also raises objection to the appointment of anti-terrorism court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain to the special court that was established to hear cases filed under the Official Secrets Act.
The application has named the state through the law ministry secretary, the interior ministry secretary, the FIA director general, the Islamabad chief commissioner, deputy commissioner and inspector general of police, the Adiala and Attock jail superintendents, and Judge Zulqarnain as respondents in the case.
It alleged that the special court judge was “lacking the essential qualification” for the role.
Khan’s lawyer Naeem Haider Panjutha wrote in a social media post on Wednesday that they have filed more petitions in the court – including post-arrest bail, cancelling the interior ministry’s notification, and having an open trial of the case.
His post on X, formerly known as Twitter, further said that the hearing of petitions has been fixed for September 2 while the court has issued notices to respondents.
It merits here to mention that a special court on Wednesday extended the judicial remand of Khan till September 13 in the cipher case. The former prime minister has been in Attock Jail since August 5 when a district and sessions court sentenced him to three years in prison after finding him “guilty of corrupt practices” in the Toshakhana case.
