The Islamabad High Court (IHC) was shocked to hear that the government can’t track the illegal taping of citizens’ private phone calls or determine who is responsible for them.
The court has directed the heads of the FBI and the FIA to appear before it on February 19. They are also required to submit reports detailing their efforts to determine which social media accounts were used to distribute and release certain unlawfully recorded phone conversations.
The son of former Pakistani chief judge Saqib Nisar, Najam-us-Saqib, was the subject of a lawsuit that began on December 20th and culminated in a written order issued on Saturday by a single-member bench of the capital’s high court, which included judge Babar Sattar.
The court emphasised that the federal government maintains the view that no domestic intelligence or law enforcement agency had the necessary technological resources to conduct electronic monitoring of its own citizens.
It has also said that no intelligence or law enforcement agency in Pakistan can identify who might be conducting such unlawful surveillance of its residents.
“Considering that audios of two prime ministers who have served in succession have been leaked in the recent past, the federal government’s stance…is truly shocking,” the order stated.
The capacity of the state to safeguard the rights of its inhabitants, as outlined in Article 7 of the Constitution, to life, liberty, privacy, dignity, and the pursuit of justice, as well as other fundamental liberties, were deemed crucial to the case by the court.
“As part of its constitutional obligations, this court must thoroughly investigate the case in order to protect the essential rights that are at stake.”
The ruling recounts the previous session where Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan apprised the court of the FIA’s efforts to trace the origins of the leaked phone calls by informing them that the agency had written to multiple social media sites.
The next hearing is on February 19, thus the FIA director general should be present in person to inform the court on how such phone call recording and surveillance is possible in Pakistan.
“The investigation into the matter should also include analysing the time stamps of the shared content to determine which social media accounts were involved in the release and circulation of the unlawfully recorded voice calls.”Within three weeks, the IB director general should provide a report detailing who has the authority to monitor Pakistani people, the effects of this monitoring, and whether or not the state of
According to the order, Pakistan is capable of resisting unlawful monitoring.
A report detailing the legal basis for the inclusion of provisions pertaining to lawful intercepts in telecom service provider licences was also directed to be filed by the court by the chief of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
When government or law enforcement authorities legally and knowingly monitor, intercept, or spy on communications like phone calls, emails, or other digital forms of communication, this is known as a lawful intercept.
Due to the fact that the unlawfully recorded phone calls were reported in print and broadcasted throughout electronic media, the court additionally chose to include the Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) and the All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS) as parties involved in the case.
The court appointed journalists Mazhar Abbas and Javed Jabbar as its assistants, along with one journalist to be nominated by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), in an effort to gain journalistic assistance in determining the proper role of electronic and print media in publishing private conversations and videos.
