Audio Leaks Case: IHC Seeks Detailed Rejoinder Regarding Phone Call Recordings

According to the latest reports, the Ministry of Defence told the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that it had no role in recording the calls of citizens. Moreover, the ministry claims not to be a part of any such activity in a plea pertaining to audio leaks. It is pertinent to mention here that IHC termed the replies from the Ministry of Interior and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) “unsatisfactory”. Moreover, they also sought a detailed rejoinder regarding the Audio Leaks Case.

IHC Terms Government’s response “Unsatisfactory” in Audio Leaks Case

The recent development came during the hearing of a plea filed by former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar’s son Najam Ali Saqib against a special committee of the National Assembly assigned to probe his purported audio leaks. The head of the bench, Justice Babar Sattar says the replies suggest that no one has the facility to record phone conversations. He stated:

“The federal government need to provide answers to the court’s queries or sensitive institutions will be directly summoned. The government should answer, otherwise, we will make the intelligence agencies a part of the case.”

On behalf of the petitioners, Advocate Latif Khosa stated that Mrs. Bushra Imran is being called by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) regularly for voice matching. He requested the court to stop the authorities from harassing her client like that. In reply, Justice Sattar stated:

“I cannot stop an investigative agency from investigating. When there is a violation of the law, you can challenge it. You are asking for an order to make FIA work according to the law. This order will be meaningless because FIA has to work according to the law. If you say so, I can write in the order that FIA should work according to the law.”

In addition, the court also extended suspension of the demand served by the standing committee to the son of former CJP Saqib Nisar and adjourned further hearing of the case.