IB neither confirms, nor denies audio tapping

DG says responsibility cannot be fixed without investigation

ISLAMABAD:

The head of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) informed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday that they could not fix responsibility of audio tapping on anyone without an investigation and stressed that the agency could neither deny or confirm the recordings.

IHC Justice Babar Sattar heard the audio leak case on the plea of Bushra Bibi, wife of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, and Najamul Saqib, son of former Supreme Court chief justice Saqib Nisar.

During the hearing, Advocate Irfan Qadir appeared before the court on behalf of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). He told the court that the petition had become ineffective and argued that the PTA was not even a party in the application moved by Bibi.

Qadir told the court that PTA Chairman had gone to Barcelona to attend a conference. Furthermore, he added that there was a legal interception by PTA. On that Justice Sattar pointed out that earlier the PTA had submitted that there was no legal interception. Qadir replied that he would see to the issue.

Justice Sattar said that the federal government was saying that it had not given permission to anyone till date for the audio tapping. Qadir replied the federal government allowed it according to the law. He added that the PTA had not issued any such instructions to anyone.

Sardar Latif Khosa, counsel for the petitioner, told the court that privacy of everyone was at risk. Justice Sattar remarked that the court would have to see how this could be prevented in the future. The court then summoned the PTA Chairman again on the next hearing.

Qadir said that digital media was a big ocean and the social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube were beyond the jurisdiction of the Pakistani agencies. The lawyer for a telecom company, while responding to a court query said, that the telecom policy, act, licence all speak differently.

Additional Attorney General Manoor Iqbal told the court that a separate application had been filed in Bushra Bibi's case, stressing that it came under the jurisdiction of suo motu. Justice Sattar said that this was not a suo motu notice but a petition.

Justice Sattar, then asked Fawad Asadullah, the director general of the IB, as to what the state was doing to protect the privacy of the citizens and whether the telecom operators were allowing phone tapping? Asadullah replied that the agency could fix responsibility until the investigation was conducted.

He said that he neither deny nor confirm the audio tapping, adding that the agency kept an eye on the enemies of the state and that he could explain the details to the court in the chamber. Later, the hearing was adjourned till March 14.