ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of the appeal of PTI founder against his conviction in the cipher case till March 11.
IHC bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the appeal of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder.
During the course of proceedings, Special Prosecutor Hamid Ali Shah adopted the stance that the prosecution required more time as the paper-books of the case were yet to be prepared.
Justice Miangul Hassan remarked that so far the defence lawyer was giving arguments which had nothing to do with the prosecution. Defence lawyer Barrister Salman Safdar read out the contents of first information report (FIR) and said that there were two parts of the appeal, one was related to the case merit and the second was about the way the trial was run. He said that the defence counsel appointed by the state did not question Azam Khan regarding his disappearance despite having knowledge of it. He said that the defence state counsel completed cross-examination against 21 witnesses in 48 hours.
The chief justice remarked that there were some requirements to arrest an accused after registration of an FIR. If the accused cooperated during investigation and inquiry then his arrest was not required. Whether it was the National Accountability Bureau, Federal Investigation Agency, or police they all pursued the same procedure.
The petitioner’s lawyer pleaded that the custodian of the cipher document was the Foreign Office but the Secretary Interior became a complainant in the case.
He said that as per the FIR, which was registered after delay of 17 months, Principal Secretary to the PM Azam Khan was an accused but he was named as a witness in the challan. The FIA changed the status of accused Azam Khan, he added.
The court asked the lawyers to come with preparations on next date of hearing as it was an important case. The case was then adjourned till March 11.