A special court judge indicted the former premier and his foreign minister at the time, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, for violating the official Secrets Act by leaking a classified cable sent from Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington to Islamabad early last year, Khan’s lawyer Shoaib Shaheen said by phone.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [indistinct chatter]
00:03 -Today, the case was fixed for the framing of charge,
00:22 and today the charge has been properly framed in open court.
00:27 The charge has been read over to the both of the accused,
00:30 Mr. Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi and Mr. Shah Mahmood Qureshi,
00:34 and now the case is fixed for the evidence of the prosecution
00:38 on 27th of this month.
00:40 -If you talk about cipher trial,
00:42 it entails death penalty, imprisonment for life, 14 years.
00:46 There are certain standards which court have to follow,
00:49 but that is not the question.
00:51 Question is that first they have to establish
00:54 what Khan Sab has done wrong.
00:56 He is the prime minister of a country,
00:58 Shah Sab being foreign minister of a country.
01:00 They are not section officer of a government department.
01:03 The prime minister is the chief executive of the country,
01:06 and he is bound to take policy decision of the country.
01:09 He has to dictate the foreign policy of the country.
01:12 He doesn't have to take dictation from the United States.
01:16 He has to make his own mind, and that is what he has done.
01:19 He has told the message that there is a blatant interference
01:22 by the foreign powers in the affairs of our country,
01:25 and that is what he has done that,
01:26 and people are backing him for that.
01:30 He was -- He candidly asked the honorable judge,
01:35 "What is the charge against me?
01:37 Do you seriously believe what you have written in it?"
01:40 He was very candid.