ISLAMABAD  -  Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday prayed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to grant him post arrest bail in cipher case. On November 8 the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had dismissed former foreign minister’s bail plea. Qureshi filed the appeal against the IHC order under Article 185(3) of the Constitution through advocate Syed Muhammad Ali Bukhari. The former foreign minister’s plea challenges the IHC’s decision to dismiss his postarrest bail petition on the aforementioned date.

The petition, filed on behalf of the senior politician, stated that the IHC did not properly assess the facts in the matter. “A baseless and politically-motivated case has been made against the petitioner,” the plea read. The petition also mentioned that the courts did not give due consideration to the core principles of bail as held by the superior courts. It also mentioned that the IHC order failed to give due consideration to the fact that the petitioner’s role is distinguishable from that of the principal accused and that the only allegations against the petitioner as mentioned in the challan (charge sheet) dated March 3 are that of a speech given in a public gathering. Qureshi’s bail plea was filed after PTI Chairman Imran Khan earlier this month had also filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking post-arrest bail in the cipher case. In his 18-page bail plea, the PTI chief, through his counsel Barrister Salman Safdar, had put before 15 legal questions regarding the cipher case. The PTI chief had prayed to the Supreme Court to grant him post-arrest bail in the case in the “interest of justice and fairplay”.