Islamabad, 3 May,2024(GNP): Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) Justice Babar Sattar on Friday denied a petition filed by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in which it request to withdraw its plea seeking the judge’s withdrawal from a case concerning to audio leaks.
In today’s hearing, it also erupted that the IHC had denied the IB’s petition seeking the judge’s withdrawal at the last hearing on April 29.
The development came as the court heard a case pertaining to the petitions filed last year by ex-prime minister Imran Khan’s spouse Bushra Bibi and Najam Saqib, son of former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar, against alleged audio leaks.
Last week, Pemra had sought Justice Sattar to withdraw himself from hearing the case, challenging that another bench that had already dealt with an identical matter may proceed on the petitions in hand.
Similar pleas had also been filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the IB.
At the previous hearing, Justice Sattar had imposed fines worth Rs500,000 each on the FIA, PTA and Pemra while rejecting their pleas seeking his withdrawal. He had also intimated at initiating contempt proceedings against the bodies.
The judge had invoked IB joint director Tariq Mehmood today, seeking a satisfactory response as to who had approved filing the plea objecting to him hearing the case.
A day ago, the IB filed a miscellaneous application seeking recusal of its objection petition.
Today, the assistant attorney general (AAG) appeared before the court on behalf of the IB.
Today’s Hearing
At the outset of today’s hearing, the AAG aware the court that the IB wanted to recused its plea objecting to the formation of the bench.
At this, Justice Sattar replied, “Your plea on objection has already been denied. When the written order will be issued, you will receive it.
“The IB DG has been issued a notice in the order. Why not commencing contempt proceedings against him?” he added.
The judge noted that it had also been asked in the order who had approved filing the objection petition. He told the AAG that the IB’s response could be submitted to the court once the written ruling had been issued.
Justice Sattar then denied the IB’s fresh application seeking recusal of the objection petition.
Audio Leaks Case:
In May last year, Najam Saqib had filed a plea against an inquiry of a parliamentary committee on his purported audio in which he allegedly sought a bribe.
Justice Sattar had asked the intelligence agencies and PTA to trace the source of the audio leak while Pemra was told not to broadcast the unauthorized and leaked conversation of citizens.
In September, Bushra Bibi had challenged an FIA inquiry based on her purported conversation with Zulfi Bukhari, a former assistant to then-PM Imran, for selling Toshakhana gifts. Later, the IHC had combined Bushra Bibi’s and Saqib’s petitions.
Responding to the IHC, the defence ministry had dismissed any involvement in the recording and leaking of telephone conversations between government officials and other prominent personalities.
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The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had also submitted its report on the case, saying that it “does not interfere” with the domain of intelligence agencies, “keeps an arm’s length relationship” and expects them “to work under the Constitution and law of the land in the public interest”.
In a subsequent hearing, the PTA had informed the IHC that it did not have the ability or capability to identify the person who leaked audio recordings on social media.
In December, Bushra Bibi had filed a separate petition against a leaked audio conversation between her and her lawyer Latif Khosa, who had confirmed the validity of the audio.
The IHC then sought reports from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general, FIA, Pemra and others on the matter while ordering the PTA to conduct an inquiry.
In the next hearing, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan informed the IHC that the government had not authorized any intelligence agency to tap audio conversations.
