ISLAMABAD – Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) Justice Babar Sattar has alleged the “top officials in the security establishment” of interference in the judicial affairs.
He raised the concerns in a letter written to IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, stating that he was delivered a message to back-off from the audio leak case.
It is recalled the audio leak case is based on the petitions filed by PTI founder Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and Najam Saqib, son of former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar, last year after there alleged audio clips surfaced on social media.
“In Write Petition 2758/2023, the Court has put on notice the heads of intelligence and investigation agencies, including ISI, IB and FIA, apart from relevant Ministries of the Federal Government and statutory regulations such as PTA and PEMRA,” read the letter.
“The question before the court is whether there exists a legal regime permitting surveillance of citizens,” Justice Sattar wrote.
Justice Sattar claimed that at some point during the hearing of the case, “I was delivered messages on behalf of top officials in the security establishment asking me to “back-off” from extensive scrutiny of the existence and mode of surveillance”.
He added that he paid no heed to such intimidatory tactics and did not find that such messages created a risk of substantial detriment to the administration of justice.
“The current Malicious Campaign’s focus on cases involving PTA appears to be an intimidatory tactic to influence court proceedings,” Justice Sattar said.
Earlier this year, six IHC judges—Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, Justice Tariq Mahmood Jehangiri, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, and Justice Saman Rifat Imtiaz—sent a letter to the chief justice, who also chairs the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).
The judges requested guidance from the council on “interference” by intelligence agencies in judicial matters and the judge’s duty to report such interference or intimidation.
The Supreme Court subsequently took suo motu notice of the IHC judges’ letter on April 1 and formed a seven-member bench led by CJP Isa to address the issue.
CJP Isa-led six-member SC bench to hear judges’ letter case on April 30
