Achi news desk-
Islam Abad: The High Court adjourned the hearing on the appeal against the conviction of PTI founder and Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the cipher case till April 16. The Chief Justice said that 1C and 1D cannot be punished.
Chief Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb heard the case. PTI founder lawyer Barrister Salman Safdar and FIA Special Prosecutor Hamid Ali Shah also appeared before the court.
When the hearing started, Barrister Salman Safdar said that generally, when a lawyer pulls the elephant, there is no need to pull the tail. The Chief Justice said, but these sections are imposed on you, you must assist the court in this regard, to which Barrister Salman Safdar told him that when you work in Ramadan, it is required to have Eid before Eid.
Chief Justice Amir Farooq said that we will give Hamid Ali Shah as much time as he wants for his arguments, it does not matter whether Eid is happening or not, we have to fulfill the legal requirements, Official Secrets Act 51C or 5 Punishment may occur. in one of the ODIs.
Barrister Salman Safdar argued that one C is negligence and one D is intentional loss, I will support the court on both.
The Chief Justice asked whether the judgment of the trial court had been sanctioned in 1C and 1D. Barrister Salman Safdar said both had been punished. The Chief Justice said that there can be no penalty in 1C and 1D. Barrister Salman Safdar said he had no evidence other than Azam Khan regarding 1C and 1D.
Chief Justice Amir Farooq said that even if this allegation is assumed to be true, the punishment of two years is too much. In law, two years punishment on this charge means a maximum punishment of two years. It is admitted that Shah Mehmood Qureshi has no role in Section 1C and 1D. given to the PTI founder, the secretary says later when he asked for the copy again, it was missing.
The court asked, when the secretary shares things with the prime minister, is it informal? Barrister Salman Safdar said that when a copy of the cipher usually comes after a year, why the PTI founder was given premature notice even though the rest of the copies were returned after 17 months.
Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb asked which document are you relying on to return the cipher copy in one year? Barrister Salman Safdar replied that Shah Mehmood Qureshi had spoken before the court in this regard.
The court said, in accordance with the record, that one of the witnesses stated that the general practice is that the copy is returned within a year, there is no document on record to show that the copy must be returned within a year. Advocate PTI founder Salman Safdar said that we will break the case word by word.
Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb asked that Azam Khan is the only witness of handing over the cipher copy to PTI founder. If Azam Khan’s installation is removed, there is no witness to the surrender, in which law must the cipher be returned within one year?
The PTI advocate said that this is a case of prosecution and Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb said that if it is a year, a separate year should be written.
Special Prosecutor Hamid Ali Shah said that Salman Safdar was reading the book Security of Classified Matters in the Government Department before the court about cipher working, and it is a top secret. Barrister Salman said that even the trial judge had not seen this book or shown it to us.
The Chief Justice said in the comments that some sections of it were written in the decision on bail. Salman Safdar argued that the Foreign Secretary Sohail Mehmood said in a statement that the copy of the Prime Minister’s cipher was lost. According to Sohail Mehmood, Azam Khan asked him for a new copy of the cipher. It will not be possible to find a new one.
The court adjourned further hearing on the cipher case until April 16. Salman Safdar will continue the arguments in the next hearing.
