The Islamabad High Court has granted a stay in the trial of the cipher case until it hears the case, given that the trial was being conducted on a day-to-day basis and there was a possibility that by the time they decided the case, the trial court would have completed its proceedings.
This was discussed during Naya Daur TV's latest episode of Khabar Say Aagay.
Discussing the Islamabad High Court's decision to grant a stay to the conduct of the cipher case, court reporter Saqib Bashir said that many contradictions are being noticed in the orders of various courts involved, especially between the high court and the Supreme Court.
The biggest reason to grant a stay in the cipher case was to ensure the right to fair trial for the suspect. This is a temporary relief for Imran Khan, but once the fair trial has started, an appeal will not benefit him, said Bashir.
In Shah Mehmood Qureshi's case, he said lawyers argued that the incident occurred in May and that their client had been booked and arrested in December; hence, the police request for physical remand should be rejected.
The court reserved the verdict and returned after a couple of hours, rejected the police request, and sent Qureshi to jail on judicial remand.
Bashir said that when the court did so, it made Qureshi eligible to file for bail.
Economist report
The recent outlook published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) was discussed, in which it was suggested that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is likely to secure a majority in the upcoming elections.
Hassan Ayub Khan said the PML-N can point to its performance over the past few terms in power. Nawaz Sharif also has a pool of electables available.
On the other hand, the PTI can play the victim card. But it does not have any electables.
Judges rescuing Imran Khan
Ayub believed that certain sections in the judiciary are stepping outside of their crease to try and rescue Imran Khan while others want to stay on the right side of public perception but are not keeping up the merit of the cases.
The questions raised by the Supreme Court based on public perception were inappropriate for the Supreme Court.
Then, Justice Athar Minallah wrote an additional note in which instead of writing he is not guilty; he said Imran is innocent and the judges need to be careful about what words they choose.
The way the superior judiciary has time and again interfered in this case, it appears the Supreme Court has been influenced.
Aijaz Ahmed said that, by and large, the current situation was that even Imran Khan's lies are given more weight than the truth of others.
Calling himself an ordinary Pakistani roaming its streets, Ahmed said that if Nawaz Sharif is so confident in his victory, why does Rana Sanaullah fret over getting an extra few seats to get above 100 seats? PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also talks about getting 100 seats or 125 seats. By doing so, they are admitting to their weakness.
As far as PPP is concerned, it makes sense because they are vying for a bigger pie than what they had previously.
The PML-N and Nawaz Sharif are asking the public to tell them what should be in their manifesto. Ahmed said a leader leads from the front with the people behind him. A politician must know what the people want. But when they admit they do not know, they are admitting to their weakness because an opponent they helped stood on his feet and was unable to counter him with their politics.
On Maulana Fazlur Rehman's speech, Ahmed said that indirectly, he has demanded that elections should be postponed.
The reason for that, Ahmed explained, was that the PML-N and Maulana Fazlur Rehman realised they failed to launch the kind of election campaign they should have. PTI is standing far ahead of them,, and even the PPP has pulled ahead.
Regarding Nawaz Sharif, Ahmed said that the narrative to hold varying people accountable was causing concern within and outside the party and that Nawaz was told that a less than favourable perception was being conveyed nationally.
They are facing problems in awarding tickets, and it appears they were unprepared for the change in constituency limits. It appears difficult for them to tackle this on an immediate basis.
This is why they want polls to be delayed for a little while, says Ahmed. He adds that per his information, even the PTI wants polls to be delayed because Imran Khan remains incarcerated.
However, the statement from the military's corps commanders' conference in favour of elections dispels any misconception about the delay of elections.