The Islamabad High Court (IHC) disposed of on Monday pleas by federal authorities seeking the recusal of Justice Babar Sattar from the audio leaks case.
Justice Sattar heard the applications and also fined the petitioners Rs0.5 million each. The petitions were submitted by the IB, FIA, PTA and PEMRA.
During the hearing, the justice inquired who gave the federal agencies authority to file the pleas. “The IB, FIA, PTA and PEMRA are serious institutions, who gave them the authority to file the pleas? I will decide after listening to their arguments.”
Additional Attorney General (AAG) Munawar Iqbal Dogal replied that the FIA requested to transfer the case to another court, as the agency had objected to Justice Sattar hearing the case as he was one of the six judges who penned a letter alleging interference in judicial matters by intelligence agencies.
To this, Justice Sattar inquired what was the link between the FIA and ISI and asked if the FIA was a “proxy” of the ISI.
“The judges of this court support Justice Shaukat Siddiqui’s allegations, the judges also backed the demand for a probe into the allegations, the part of the letter you read is related to the ISI and not the FIA. Does the FIA have anything to do with installing hidden cameras in judges’ houses?”
The AAG, however, replied in the negative and stated that he read the mentioned portion of the letter as it discussed the role of agencies.
“Is this how you will define conflict of interest,” the judge asked while referring to the pleas. “If the executive blackmails the judges, will the judges then have a conflict of interest,” Justice Sattar inquired. The court then disposed of the petitions with a fine and also hinted at contempt of court action against DG FIA.
The court, expressing annoyance, sought a reply from the IB regarding who directed the bureau to file the plea and also summoned the joint DG.
Expressing annoyance on the petitions, the IHC sought the IB’s reply on who directed the filing of the applications and also summoned the Joint DG IB. Justice Sattar stated that the purpose of such pleas was to influence judicial proceedings.
Members of the legal faculty present in the courtroom also lauded the move by the IHC justice. The FIA, PTA, PEMRA and IB had moved the court on Saturday seeking Justice Sattar’s recusal from the case. The applications contended that another IHC bench had already issued a verdict in a similar case.
