Special court grants bail to Asad Umar in cipher case

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: A special court on Thursday granted bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Umar in the cipher case.

Judge Abu Alhasnaat Zulqurnain announced the decision on Umar’s bail against surety bonds worth Rs50,000.

Umar, who served as finance minister and planning minister in the PTI government, appeared in person before Islamabad court to secure bail.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi are on remand in the same case until September 26.

Umar had gone ‘missing’ from Islamabad on August 20, hours after Qureshi was arrested in the cipher case.

On last Tuesday, it was reported that Asad Umar had been arrested in a cipher probe, but he refuted the news and appeared on the scene to secure bail in the case after the arrest of party leaders.

Cipher case

The first information report (FIR) was registered on August 15 under the Official Secrets Act. It was registered on the complaint of Home Secretary.

Former prime minister Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were nominated in the report, while names of former principal secretary Azam Khan and former planning minister Asad Umar were also mentioned.

According to the report, action also will be taken against Azam Khan and Asad Umar after the authorities reached the conclusion that they were also involved in misusing the classified documents.

The FIR stated that the former prime minister and foreign minister distorted the facts of the diplomatic cipher. “A conspiracy was launched to misuse the contents of the cipher to fulfill nefarious purposes”, it added. It further stated that former premier and top diplomat endangered the state interests.

The report claimed that former prime minister asked Azam Khan – the then principal secretary – to “manipulate the contents of cipher”. “The former premier deliberately kept the copy of diplomatic cipher, which was sent to the PM office”, it added.