The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday questioned why the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was only specifically investigating former Prime Minister Imran khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi for not returning the diplomatic cipher even though others involved in the case have done the same.
Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb gave his remarks during the hearing of appeals filed by both Khan and Qureshi against their conviction.
Defence council Barrister Salman Safdar presented his argument that the concerned diplomatic cipher was sent to the top eight offices, including the president, PM’s principal secretary, foreign secretary, army chief, director general of Inter-Services Intelligence, chief justice of Pakistan and cabinet secretary.
However, the defense argued, none of the mentioned recipients returned the diplomatic cable to the Foreign Office when the inquiry commenced in October 2022.
The other recipients didn’t return the cable for over a year and did so only when proceedings were started against only the ex-PM and FM.
Justice Aurangzeb asked for an explanation of this move by FIA, to which Barrister Safdar replied it showed “selective prosecution, political victimisation, colourable exercise of power and defective investigation”.
