The federal government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Thursday to contest the exoneration of former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and former Prime Minister Imran Khan in the well-known cipher case.
Appealing the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) ruling, the Ministry of Interior has raised procedural and jurisdictional issues.
The appeals contend that the High Court exceeded its authority by considering the cipher case and that courts cannot change legislation that Parliament has not expressly passed.
The appeal emphasized that, despite receiving government-funded legal representation, Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi did not cooperate with the trial, submitting 65 separate motions and neglecting to cross-examine witnesses.According to the petition, a retrial is required in order to satisfy legal criteria because the High Court ignored important evidence that was given during the trial. It requests that the Supreme Court schedule a hearing for the appeals against the IHC’s June 3 acquittal.
