State bodies seek Sattar’s recusal in leaks case

In an interesting development, four state institutions have filed a miscellaneous application in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking the recusal of Justice Babar Sattar from a bench hearing two related petitions regarding the surveillance of telephonic conversations of private individuals.

The application, filed by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and the Intelligence Bureau (IB), contends that another IHC bench has already issued a verdict in a similar case.

It is therefore necessary that Justice Sattar recuse himself from hearing the case, and further proceedings be held by the same bench presided over by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, which issued a verdict in a related case in 2021, in order to avoid a contradiction in verdicts, the application argues.

Justice Sattar is scheduled to resume the hearing of the case on Monday, April 29.

Former First Lady Bushra Bibi had filed a petition in the IHC against the illegal recording of her telephonic conversations and their subsequent leaking on social media platforms.

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Najamus Saqib, a son of former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar, had also moved the court against a notice of a parliamentary committee, which had summoned him in the wake of the leaking of his alleged telephone conversation last year. Justice Sattar had later clubbed the petitions in September 2023.

A couple of audio clips allegedly featuring the voice of Najamus Saqib had appeared on April 29, 2023.
In one of the clips, Najam could be heard telling a politician, Abuzar Chadar, that his father, Nisar, had “worked really hard” to get Chadar a ticket of the PTI. In the second audio, Najam allegedly told one Mian Aziz how much money he expected in return for the party ticket.

On May 2, 2023, the National Assembly had passed a motion demanding the formation of a special parliamentary committee to investigate the audios. On May 3, the then speaker of the National Assembly had constituted the committee, which later in May summoned Najam.

Najam had approached the IHC against the notification and the capital’s high court had later stayed the NA committee’s notification.