The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has issued directives to the chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and director generals of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to justify why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated.
The IHC order is part of preliminary notices sent to heads of IB FIA and PTA concerning an unauthorised audio leak case. The court is questioning their actions and the potential for contempt proceedings.
In a recent 40-page judgment regarding requests for the recusal of IHC Justice Babar Sattar, the court labelled these petitions as mala fide. It also imposed a financial penalty, ordering those responsible for authorizing the legal challenge to pay a fine of Rs0.5 million from their funds.
The court fined three departments, PEMRA, PTA, and FIA, Rs 0.5 million each, dismissing their petitions related to the case. While IB wasn’t fined then, its Joint Director General Tariq Mehmood has been summoned to the next hearing.
Following the fines, IB sought to retract its objection to the bench overseeing the audio leaks case. However, Justice Sattar rejected this plea.
The case involves allegations against Najamul Saqib, son of former Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, and Bushra Bibi, wife of PTI founder Imran Khan. Justice Sattar is overseeing it after emerging in 2023.
IB, PEMRA, FIA and PTA requested Sattar’s recusal based on a letter from six IHC judges, including Sattar, to the Supreme Judicial Council. The letter cited concerns about intelligence agencies’ interference in judicial decisions, which the judges claimed undermined judicial independence.
