Rawalpindi : Jan 30, 2024: Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) founding chairman and ex prime minister , Imran Khan , and his Foreign minister , Shah Mahmood Qureshi , have been awarded 10- year term in misuse of diplomatic cable (Cypher) for political purpose case. Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi denied the charges and pleaded not guilty in the court.
Special court judge , Abdul Hasnaat Zulqarnain, announced the judge here on Tuesday. The special court ruled in the case that ex- prime minister , Imran Khan and his Foreign minister , Shah Mahmood Qureshi , have been found guilty of misusing a diplomatic cable (Cypher) for political purpose and hence both the accused are sentenced for 10-year in jail . The special court of judge Abdul Hasnaat Zulqarnain , heard the case in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi. The judge had adjourned the hearing in the case a few days ago when both the accused had lost temper and exchanged heated arguments with the judge during the hearing of the case. The judge also faced a particular situation when the counsels for the accused had stopped appearing in the court . However , the court arranged the counsels for the accused and finally it announced the judgement in the case.
Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi had been identified as main characters of the cypher case as the witnesses more than one dozen in the case had recorded their statements and held both the accused responsible for making top secret diplomatic cable public at a public rally and it damaged Pakistan ‘s diplomatic relations with the US in 2022 .
Imran Khan had waved a copy of the diplomatic cable at his party rally held in Islamabad on March ,27, 2022 , around one month before departure of his government through a no confidence motion. PTI founding chairman and ex-prime minister had built up his political narrative on the diplomatic cable received by the Foreign Office from Pakistan’s envoy based in the US on February 8, 2022 , claiming that the diplomatic cable (Cypher ) in question was an evidence of US involvement in dismissal of his government .
Although , Washington repeatedly denied Imran Khan’s allegations , but since PTI founding chief believes in proving one lie with another one he kept repeating his allegations against the US adminstration. After dismissal of his government , Shahbaz Sharif government had filed a case against Imran Khan and others for illegally making top diplomatic cable public. The special court heard the case for around one year and it finally made judgement on Tuesday.
This decision is not good for our country!