Spying on calls: SC asks govt about law on phone tapping

Directs it to furnish details regarding the departments that spy on phone calls

ISLAMABAD: Hearing an 18-year-old suo motu case, the top court has sought a reply from federal government regarding the law under which phone calls are tapped by intelligence agencies.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, on Wednesday asked the federal government to furnish details regarding the departments that spy on phone calls in the country.

The bench also asked Deputy Attorney General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti to ascertain from the secret agencies and other relevant departments about the number of phones being tapped. The bench made it clear that it will also seek the same details from other law enforcement departments, including police.



During the hearing, Justice Saqib observed that the court wants to know under which law spy agencies — civilian and others — are tapping phone calls. “This is a significant matter as it became the reason for the ouster of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 1996,” the bench observed.

Later, the bench adjourned the hearing for three weeks.

In 1996, then chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah had taken notice of the recording of phone calls by these spy agencies after a spying device was found connected to his phone.

Later, former president Farooq Ahmed Leghari’s counsel — during the Benazir Bhutto dismissal case proceedings — had cited before the Supreme Court phone tapping of judges by the Bhutto regime as a major justification for her government’s ouster.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2015.