Najam Saqib had challenged the formation of a special committee by National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to investigate audio clips allegedly featuring his voice.
ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-June 19th, 2023) The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday granted four weeks to Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan to respond to the court's five questions regarding the audio leaks.
The deadline was set by Justice Babar Sattar during a hearing on a plea filed by Najam Saqib, the son of former Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar.
Saqib had challenged the formation of a special committee by National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to investigate audio clips allegedly featuring his voice.
During the hearing, the AGP informed the court that the matter was already under consideration in the Supreme Court. He requested the bench to await the resolution of the questions being debated in the apex court. In response, Sardar Latif Khosa, the petitioner's lawyer, argued that the issue concerned the fundamental rights of the Pakistani population, emphasizing that the government should have consulted the Chief Justice before forming a judicial commission.
Justice Babar then inquired about the time needed by the AGP to answer the court's questions, granting a four-week period. The judge highlighted the potential benefit of reaching a decision that could assist the Supreme Court when the matter eventually reaches it. Consequently, the court extended the suspension of the summons issued by the special committee to Najam Saqib and adjourned the hearing until August 16.
The five questions posed by the court pertain to the authority of parliament to investigate private citizens without public office, the power of the National Assembly speaker to establish a special committee to probe actions of non-parliamentary private citizens, the legality of phone call recordings or surveillance by the Federal government, the balance between citizens' privacy and state interests in recording and surveillance, and the accountability of any entity involved in illegal surveillance or the release of private conversations.
In the petition submitted by Najam Saqib, he sought the suspension of committee proceedings and a halt to any punitive actions. He argued that the audio recordings violated his privacy rights and constituted illegal surveillance. Furthermore, he challenged the legality of the committee formed by the National Assembly speaker and deemed the issued summons to be illegal.
The objections raised by the IHC registrar's office stated that the matter was already pending before the Supreme Court and that a single petition could not encompass two distinct pleas. The registrar highlighted that the petitioner simultaneously challenged the committee's notification and requested the court to declare the audio recordings as illegal.
The special committee established by NA Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf aimed to investigate Najam's audio, in which he allegedly offered a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ticket to a Punjab provincial assembly candidate in exchange for favors. Mohammad Aslam Bhootani was appointed as the committee's chairman, with other members including Shahida Akhtar Ali, Muhammad Abubakar, Muhammad Barjees Tahir, Sheikh Rohale Asghar, Syed Hussain Tariq, Naz Baloch, and Khalid Hussain Magsi.
