Supreme Court of Pakistan intervenes audio leaks case, suspends previous orders of IHC

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has intervened in the ongoing audio leaks case, suspending the previous orders of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) dated May 29 and June 25. The two-member bench of Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan heard the audio allegedly involving key political figures.

At the hearings, the SC also issued notices to Bushra Bibi, the wife of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, and Najam-ul-Haq, the son of former Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, on the appeals that the federal government had filed against the judgments of the IHC.

Justice Aminuddin Khan highlighted important questions vis-a-vis the authenticity of such audio recordings, of that, on what basis the IHC could uphold that a certain person had in fact recorded. The court was observed by the judges as making comments on the investigation process which, according to them, were not being pursued to reach the real veracity. Afghan said that the basic steps are to be taken to authenticate the recordings mentioned before proceeding it further.

SC also raised doubts on the jurisdiction of IHC under Article 199 of the Constitution by explaining its violation of and how the court’s mandate has interfered in taking up the case. The government further argued that the findings of the IHC were devoid of facts and granted relief which was not the subject matter of the petition. SC also upheld the stay on proceedings on inquiry commission investigation in subject case added to make inquiry more cumbersome.

Case is developing further, with Supreme Court focusing on the authentication of audio leaks and legal implications of the decision made by IHC.