IHC Justice Babar Sattar wants to know ‘who records audios’

ISLAMABAD, May 31 (SABAH): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Babar Sattar on Wednesday asked the government to inform it about the elements responsible for recording audios and stopped the special parliamentary body from proceeding against former chief justice (CJP) MIan Saqib Nisar’s son Najam Saqib.

Justice Babar Sattar made the remarks while hearing a plea filed by Najam Saqib, son of ex-CJP Saqib Nisar, against a special committee formed by National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to probe audio clips allegedly featuring his voice.

Moreover, Justice Sattar suspended the summoning notice issued to Najam by the special committee and removed the Registrar’s Office’s objections to the application. The court also issued notices to the federal government, asking it to appraise the court on the origins of the audios by June 19.

“Who records these audios?” Justice Sattar asked, seeking a response from the federal government, further wondering under what authority the special committee took notice.

Advocate Sardar Latif Khan Khosa, on behalf of the petitioner, told the court that the rules for the special committee would be the same as for the general committee.

The judge responded that he would have to make the concerned ministry a party to the case. “There is no relevant ministry in this matter, but we will do so,” Khosa said.

He added: “We only challenged that the speaker and the assembly do not have the authority to look into private matters. The petition does not challenge the matter which is pending in the Supreme Court.”

“The audio leak is an alleged conversation between two private individuals that Parliament has no right to see,” he maintained.

The judge further inquired: “You have also been a governor. Tell me, who records these audios?”

“Let the parties answer first, then everything will be clear,” Najam’s counsel responded.

In his petition, Najam Saqib had requested the court to stop the proceedings of the parliamentary panel headed by Muhammad Aslam Bhootani as the body was formed in violation of the National Assembly rules.

He also claimed that the committee did not summon him but the secretary of the committee still asked him to appear before the panel.

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Babr Sattar inquired about the powers under which the committee had issued a notice. “Is this a special committee?” he asked. Najam’s lawyer, Sardar Latif Khosa, said that the special committee would follow the same rules as those for regular committees.

“You will have to make the relevant ministry a part of the case,” Justice Sattar said. Khosa, however, responded by saying that there was no relevant ministry in this case but that they would do so.

The lawyer argued that their petition had stated that the NA speaker and the assembly did not have the jurisdiction to probe “private matters”.

“We have not challenged the matter that is currently being heard by the Supreme Court,” he said, referring to the pleas against the formation of a judicial commission formed to probe recent audio leaks.

He underlined that the audio in question was a private phone call between two private individuals and should not be subject to scrutiny by parliament.

The court then suspended the summons issued to Najam by the committee and asked the government to submit a reply in the case by June 19.

The petition filed by Najam Saqib on Tuesday requested the IHC to suspend the proceedings of the committee and stop it from taking any punitive action. He contended that the alleged audios breached his privacy and it was illegal surveillance. He requested the court to declare that recording a private person’s personal conversation was a violation of basic human rights. He further said the committee formed by the NA speaker to probe the audios was illegal.

The summons issued by the committee secretary without any meeting of the committee — asking Najam, his father and two other persons to appear in person — are also illegal, the petition claimed.

The IHC registrar’s office, however, had raised objections to the petition saying that the matter was already pending with the Supreme Court. The registrar also contended that two different types of pleas could not be made in a single petition. It said, on the one hand, the petitioner had challenged the notification of the committee while, on the other hand, he also requested the court to declare the recording of audio as illegal.

NA Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf on May 3 set up a special committee to investigate Najam’s audio, in which he can be heard selling a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ticket to a candidate of the Punjab provincial assembly, claiming that his father had to work hard to get the ticket sanctioned — according to a notification from the assembly.

Mohammad Aslam Bhootani was appointed as chairman of the committee, which includes Shahida Akhtar Ali, Muhammad Abubakar, Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees Tahir, Sheikh Rohale Asghar, Syed Hussain Tariq, Naz Baloch and Mir Khalid Hussain Magsi.