ISLAMABAD: 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.”
Munawar Iqbal Dogal (AGG) 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.
