ISLAMABAD: Judge Abual Hasnat Mohammad Zulqarnain, who convicted former prime minister Imran Khan and foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the cipher case, has been granted a 20-day leave, according to an official notification.

In a related development, the federal government has assigned another judge to the Special Court (Official Secrets Act), set up to prosecute the former premier and foreign minister in the cipher case.

According to the notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice, the Special Court’s charge has been assigned to Additional District and Sessions Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra.

He was recently posted as an anti-terrorism court (ATC) special judge.

ADSJ Tahir Sipra given charge of special court

The leave application of Judge Zulqarnain was approved by Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, who is also the inspection judge of the capital’s special courts.

The decision to grant leave to Judge Zulqarnain came days after Justice Kayani recommended the former’s repatriation to his parent department, the Lahore High Court (LHC), over alleged misconduct.

Judge Zulqarnain was posted from the LHC to the Islamabad Judicial Service on a three-year deputation in 2022.

He was the Islamabad ATC presiding judge when he was also given the charge of special court under the Official Secrets Act to oversee the cipher trial.

The recommended repatriation of Judge Zulqarnain came on the back of remarks passed by an IHC division bench regarding his conduct during a hearing to grant bail to PTI leader Aamir Masood Mughal.

The PTI leader, nominated in March last year for allegedly leading a group of rioters that set a police van on fire, had applied for a pre-arrest bail at the Islamabad anti-terrorism court.

During a hearing on Feb 6, he appeared in the court of ATC Judge Zulqarnain and sought an adjournment until after the Feb 8 general elections, which he was contesting as a PTI-backed independent candidate.

The judge accepted the request and adjourned the matter until Feb 13.

The IHC bench noted that Judge Zulqarnain announced the adjournment in the short order dictated in the open court, but later, the said petition [for pre-arrest bail] was “dismissed for non-prosecution”.

According to the bench’s order, the petitioner and his lawyers were asked to submit separate affidavits before the court to affirm the facts, which they did.

The investigation officer also confirmed that the ATC judge had indeed granted an adjournment on Feb 6, the court noted.

“At this juncture, we will exercise restraint to record observations regarding the conduct of the presiding officer [ATC-I judge] in the light of the principle and law laid down by the Supreme Court. However, a separate note is being submitted on the administrative side,” the order said.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2024