A special court judge hearing the bail pleas of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi has gone on leave till September 8. This information was given in media reports on Monday.

Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain on Saturday adjourned till Monday the hearing on the post-arrest bail applications of Khan and Qureshi in the case as the validity of the special court is under scrutiny in the Islamabad High Court.

When Imran Khan's (70-year-old) legal team reached the court premises on Monday, they learned that Judge Zulqarnain was on leave for a week due to his wife's illness, Geo News reported. Khan's lawyer Naeem Haider Panjotha said when the legal team reached the court premises, they learned that Judge Zulqarnain was on leave for a week, Dawn newspaper reported.

 

Following this, the legal team reached the court of Judge Raja Jawad Abbas and urged him to hear the bail plea. To this the judge replied that he could not hear the matter as he was not the duty judge.

“There is no notification of duty judge under the Official Secrets Act. If the Islamabad High Court can mark it, then only I can hear it. I can hear cases of 24 courts as a duty judge but not in the purview of the Official Secrets Act.

Last month, Judge Zulqarnain of ATC-1 was given additional charge of the special court set up under the Official Secrets Act to hear the case related to diplomatic cables.

The purported cipher contained details of a meeting last year between US State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, and Pakistani Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan.

 

Khan came under the scanner after American media outlet The Intercept published an alleged copy of the classified cable. In the previous government headed by Shehbaz Sharif, many pointed fingers at the PTI chief for being the source of the leak.

 

Shah Mahmood Qureshi (67 years old) was arrested under the Official Secrets Act for violating the secrecy of an official cable sent by the Pakistani embassy to the Foreign Office in the US when he was foreign minister.