Pakistan top court suspends high court verdict barring telecom operators from wiretapping

Riot policemen carry their gear as they walk past the Supreme Court building in Islamabad on July 25, 2022. (AFP/File)

• The Islamabad High Court had restricted telecom operators from recording calls, facilitating law enforcement in surveillance
• A two-judge Supreme Court bench rules a high court cannot take suo moto notice, says the orders were ‘beyond its authority’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top court on Monday suspended high court orders barring telecom companies from recording phone calls for surveillance in a case relating to audio leaks that involved former prime minister Imran Khan’s wife and son of a former chief justice, local media reported.
The Islamabad High Court restricted telecom operators from recording calls in its verdict issued on May 29, while in another order on June 25, it barred telecom companies from facilitating law enforcement agencies in surveillance.
Both orders were issued after the high court took suo moto notices. A suo moto notice is a legal action taken by the Supreme Court as their initiative in matters of public importance without being prompted by a formal complaint or petition.
On Monday, a two-judge Supreme Court bench, comprising Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, heard an appeal filed by the government against the IHC verdicts, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported.
“The IHC’s orders of May 29 and June 25 are beyond its authority,” the newspaper quoted the Supreme Court as saying in its order. “The [high] court is not authorized to take suo moto notices.”
The audio leaks were related to a conversation between Khan’s wife, Bushra Khan, and Najam Saqib, son of former Pakistan chief justice Saqib Nisar.
The top court issued notices to both Khan’s wife and Saqib, and sought record of the case, according to the Dawn report.
The issue of surveillance by Pakistani law enforcement and intelligence agencies came into the spotlight after audio clips, including those of Khan’s wife, were released on social media in the lead-up to the February 8 general elections.
Bushra and others filed petitions in the Islamabad High Court challenging the unauthorized surveillance and privacy violations. During the course of the hearings, it was revealed that the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) had mandated telecom companies to finance, import, and install a mass surveillance system to access citizens’ data.
In July, the government, through a formal notification, authorized Pakistan’s premier spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to intercept phone calls and messages “in the interest of national security,” adding to the already outsized role and powers of the shadowy military outfit.
The authorization drew criticism from Pakistani analysts and rights activists, who said the move would undermine privacy of citizens and could be used to suppress political opponents, activists and media.