‘Which agencies can record audios legally?’, asks IHC

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday asked Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan which “public authority or agency” should be held accountable for tapping phones without legal cover.

The written order for the judgement by Justice Babar Sattar was released on Thursday with a question on who had legal authority to record phone calls and if permitted, who is responsible for making sure that citizen’s rights are not violated.

The court raised the question in a seven-page order issued on a petition filed by Najam Saqib, son of former chief justice Saqib Nisar, against a National Assembly committee tasked with investigating his purported audio leak, wherein a voice said to be his could be heard demanding a “reward” from a PTI leader for securing him the party ticket to contest Punjab elections.

In his petition, Najam had also challenged the “legality and validity” of the National Assembly speaker’s decision to form the special committee to “audit, inquire and investigate” his alleged audio clip.

“Under the garb of these audio leaks, a campaign has been launched against the petitioner and his father that some kind of gratification has been obtained by Abuzar Chaddhar for the said ticket,” he said.

“To the extent that recording of phone calls is permitted, which public authority or agency is authorized to do so, how is the right of a citizen to liberty and privacy to be balanced against the interest of the State in recording phone calls or undertaking surveillance and which agency is vested with legal authority to undertake such balancing exercise?” Justice Sattar wrote.

He also asked that if the tapping of phones was shown to be illegal, who would bear the responsibility for the encroachment of citizen rights that would eventually emerge.

“In the event that there is no legal sanction to tap phones, record telecommunication between citizens or undertake surveillance, which public authority or agency is to be held liable for such surveillance and encroachment over the right of citizens to liberty and privacy and/or release of illegally recorded private conversations to the public?”

Justice Sattar asked for a report to be submitted to explain if there is a legal framework for recording calls between private individuals and aslo asked which agencies have the technology to do such recordings.