Audio leaks case in-chamber hearing declined

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday rejected the government’s plea for the in-chamber hearing of the audio leaks case, saying that it was not a matter of national security and that the people had the right to know how their privacy was being invaded.

IHC Justice Babar Sattar heard the plea of Bushra Bibi, wife of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, and Najamus Saqib, son of former chief justice Saqib Nisar, against the audio leaks. Additional Attorney General Mannawar Iqbal Dugal and other lawyers attended the hearing.

Dogal informed the court that a new policy was framed in 2013 after a decision of the Sindh High Court (SHC) and the interior ministry issued the standard operating procedures (SOPs). He added that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) could directly obtain data.

An officer authorised by these agencies could request the service providers for data of an individual. Other law-enforcement agency personnel might obtain the data from these agencies, the AAG told the court.

Justice Sattar remarked that the SOPs were issued by a section officer of the interior ministry, while the ministry pertaining to the telecom regulator, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), was the information technology (IT) ministry.

Justice Sattar told the AAG that the legality of obtaining the citizens’ data would have to be examined, raising the question under which law the government decided it could access the data.

Dugal said that LEAs had been taking data according to the policy mechanism.

Justice Sattar said that as per the report of the Islamabad police no warrant had ever been obtained. The lawyer for the police told the court that the police did not carry out surveillance or recording, rather they only collect evidence. He added that a warrant would be required for surveillance.

Justice Sattar said why a warrant was obtained for going into the house of an accused after the case was registered. He also asked, how the CCTV footage of the house could be obtained if burglary was committed there. The lawyer insisted that the police only collected evidence after the incident.

The judge questioned how police could take footage of a person’s lawn without a warrant. The judge remarked that the Islamabad police still did not understand why the warrant was necessary. He then told the lawyer that a warrant was required to get the footage.

Continuing, Justice Sattar observed that the people should know how their privacy was being violated. AAG Dogal requested for the hearing in the chamber. However, the judge turned down the plea, saying that it was not a matter of national security.

He stated that the court was not asking him about the national security secrets, rather he was just asking about the relevant law, as the federal government had requested for lifting of the ban on the provision of the data by the telecom operators.

The judge observed that telecom companies were equally responsible if they are giving out the data of citizens without any scrutiny. He told the lawyer that he would issue show-cause notice to the PTA chairman and board members for contempt of court. Later, the hearing was adjourned.