Law allowing phone tapping ambiguous, says Justice Mandokhail

Supreme Court’s Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail termed the existing law allowing phone tapping “ambiguous” as the court’s constitutional bench heard a case related to the issue on Wednesday.

In July, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication authorised the country’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to intercept and trace calls in the “interest of national security”.

The ministry’s notification said that the authorisation was granted to the ISI under Section 54 of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organisation) Act, 1996. A day after, however, the government’s decision to allow phone tapping was challenged in the Lahore High Court (LHC).

Wednesday’s case was heard by a seven-member constitutional bench headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan.

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar inquired whether any legislation was made regarding the practice of phone tapping.

Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman replied saying the law has been in place since 2013.

“According to the law, ISI and IB are notified. The procedure for phone tapping is in the law, and judicial supervision is also in the law,” he said.

Justice Mazhar replied, “According to the law, only a judge can give permission for phone tapping. Has any judge been notified for this purpose? The law does not allow everyone to tap every phone.”

Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail remarked that the phone-tapping law was “ambiguous.”

“The phone tapping case will also have an impact on pending cases,” he said. “This matter started from the chief justice’s chamber, where will the chief justice go?”

Justice Aminuddin Khan chimed in to say, “We are not interested in reports or the law, we want results.”

The additional attorney general said he was not aware of the nomination of a judge.

The advocate on record noted that contact has not been made with the petitioner, Major Shabbir, adding that his lawyer also passed away last year.

The court issued a notice to the advocate general and dismissed the hearing.

Last December, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) was informed during the hearing of a case related to audio leaks that the government had not permitted any intelligence agency to tap audio conversations.

Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan had informed the high court during the hearing of a petition filed by ex-premier Imran Khan’s spouse Bushra Bibi, who was seeking action against a leaked conversation, allegedly featuring her and PTI leader Latif Khosa.