ISLAMABAD: Justice Babar Sattar of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday hinted at initiating contempt of court proceedings against the director general of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) for filing an application seeking his recusal from the audio leaks case.

Earlier this week, respondents in the audio leaks case, including IB, Federal Investigation Agency, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, had filed applications seeking Justice Sattar’s recusal. The judge imposed a fine of Rs500,000 on the FIA, PTA, and Pemra each. However, he directed IB’s joint director Tariq Mehmood to appear in person, as a representative of the spy agency told the court that the recusal application was filed on Mr Mehmood’s instructions.

On Friday, an assistant attorney general appeared before the court and said the bureau had filed another application for withdrawal of the recusal plea. Justice Sattar remarked that the application had already been dismissed and issued a notice to the IB’s director general seeking an explanation as to why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him. He also asked the DG to explain under whose direction the application seeking his recusal had been filed.

DG asked to explain under whose direction judge’s recusal was sought

The audio leaks case relates to petitions by Najam Saqib, son of former chief justice Saqib Nisar, and former first lady Bushra Bibi, who challenged inquiries initiated against them based on their alleged leaked audio.

Earlier, IB and ISI reports stated that phone calls could be tapped through mobile apps and viruses, and intelligence agencies cannot trace the source. The ISI report said it was unable to trace the source of leaks due to encryption. Justice Sattar advised the assistant attorney general to file submissions along with the reply to the court notice issued to the IB.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2024