Ex-Pak PM Imran Khan files nomination for next year's national polls

NEW DELHI: Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan on Friday filed nomination papers for the 2024 national elections. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief filed his papers to contest from his hometown Mianwali. The development comes hours after Pakistan's Supreme Court granted him bail in a case related to an alleged leak of state secrets -- known as the cipher case.Khan was jailed this year in August in the cipher case, which involved an alleged violation of the Official Secret Act. It was alleged that the cricketer-turned-politician disclosed a secret diplomatic cable sent by Pakistan's Washington embassy in March.Shah Mehmood Qureshi, former foreign minister and Imran Khan's close aide, was also imprisoned in the same case, but on Friday was given bail by the country's top court."The case has completely collapsed, and Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi have finally been granted bail," lawyer Salman Safdar told reporters outside court, referring to Khan's former foreign minister who is being held over the same case.The 71-year-old former cricket star has been embroiled in a string of political and legal battles ever since he was ousted as prime minister in April 2022.The Supreme Court judges, in a written court order, said they could not find "sufficient incriminating material" which could establish that Khan leaked state secrets to benefit a foreign power.The order said Khan's release on bail "during the period of elections would ensure 'genuine elections' and thus enable the people to exercise the right to express their will effectively and meaningfully. There are no exceptional circumstances to decline the concession of bail."However, Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said he remains incarcerated over numerous separate graft cases, with a scant chance that he will released from he prison to contest the February 8 polls."The prospect of him obtaining relief in the near future appears to be very slim," party lawyer Khalid Yousaf Chaudry told news agency AFP.(With agencies input)