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ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) Justice Babar Sattar on Monday slapped three government agencies with fines of Rs1.5 million for filing “frivolous applications” for his recusal from the audioleaks case.
Justice Sattar was hearing petitions filed last year by Najam Saqib, the son of former chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar and Imran Khan’s spouse, Bushra Bibi.
The two had gone to court after audio leaks, purportedly featuring their voices, were leaked online.
Four separate applications were filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) for the judge’s recusal from the case.
At the outset of the hearing on Monday, Justice Sattar said he would first hear and decide on the four applications.
Justice Sattar hints at contempt proceedings against heads of three departments
In the presence of Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan, the judge asked why his recusal was sought.
Additional Attorney General (AAG) Barrister Munawar Iqbal Duggal replied to Justice Sattar that the four petitioners were seeking his recusal since he was among the six IHC judges who wrote a letter against the alleged meddling of the ISI in the court’s affairs.
Justice Sattar questioned why the FIA had filed an application, as it has nothing to do with the ISI. “What connection does an ISI matter have with the FIA? How is this letter related to the FIA?”
He observed that the IHC judges’ letter was about the ISI, not the FIA.
“Does the FIA have any connection with fixing hidden cameras in judges’ houses?” he asked while referring to one of the issues raised by the six judges in their letter.
The PTA counsel also failed to satisfy the judge, while the IB representative said the application was filed with the approval of a joint director general.
When asked the official’s name, the AAG Duggal replied that his name was Tariq Mehmood.
Justice Sattar summoned the director at the next hearing after the IB representative failed to provide a satisfactory response.
Pemra, in its petition, had reasoned that since another IHC bench had already dealt with an identical matter, Justice Sattar should recuse himself so that the same bench that the same bench may proceed on the petitions in hand.
Justice Sattar dismissed Pemra’s and PTA’s petitions and imposed a fine of Rs500,000 each on FIA, PTA and Pemra.
He also hinted at initiating contempt proceedings against the heads of the three departments, and the hearing was later adjourned.
In May last year, 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 unauthorised and leaked conversation of citizens.
In their reports submitted to the court, IB and ISI claimed phone calls could be tapped through mobile apps and viruses, and intelligence agencies could not trace the culprits. The ISI said its inability to trace the source of the leaks was due to encryption being a significant barrier.
“Being encrypted traffic, technically, it is not possible to ascertain the source; only SM [social media] platforms can provide information,” it said.
Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2024
