ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) directed the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director gen-eral and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Thursday to submit a report regarding the audio leak of a private conversation between former premier Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and her lawyer Latif Khosa.
“The DG ISI must also submit a report on who leaked the audio,” Justice Babar Sattar said as he headed a single-member bench hearing the miscellaneous application filed against the audio leak.
The judge’s remarks came as he ordered the FIA to conduct forensics of the audio. “It should be inves-tigated where the audio was first released,” the judge said, ordering for a copy of the application to also be sent to the DG ISI.
The IHC issued notices to FIA, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) as well as the Pakistan Me-dia Regulatory Authority (PEMRA).
“PEMRA must tell how peoples’ private conversations were being aired on television,” Justice Sattar said.
The judge, on inquiring about the objections imposed on the application by the court registrar, was told by Khosa that the registrar had objected to a miscellaneous application being filed instead of a separate one. “A miscellaneous application in the audio leaks case – ongoing in the IHC – can be filed,” Khosa said, adding that conversations between a lawyer and client were privileged – a legal rule that protects communications within certain relationships from compelled disclosure in a court proceeding.
“The ‘Big Boss’ is listening to everything, you must know,” Justice Sattar said as the courtroom erupted into laughter.
“Who is recording these audios,” Justice Sattar asked.
“Everyone knows who is recording them,” Khosa responded.
“We can’t take action over assumptions,” Justice Sattar stated.
Khosa added that the matter was not exclusively a problem for him, but for all lawyers of the country. “How will the justice system work if a lawyer will not be able to speak to their client freely,” he main-tained.
Justice Sattar asked if the audio was first leaked on Twitter, or somewhere else. He observed that once it was determined where the audio leak was first leaked, it will be easier to determine who rec-orded it.
The lawyer informed that the audio leak was run by all media channels. “Screens go blank on PEMRA’s orders on even the mention of a certain name,” he said, adding that “nobody tells me it is not safe to have conversations on my phone”.
On November 30, an audio clip, purportedly featuring Bushra Bibi and Khosa, circulated on social me-dia, indicating differences within the former prime minister’s family amidst his incarceration.
In the audio clip, Bushra and Khosa could be heard discussing their grievances against Imran’s sisters.
The former first lady recalls a recent incident when the ex-premier’s sisters raised concerns about the handling of a case related to his safety in Attock jail. She went on to say that the presence of the sis-ters created complications.
In October, Bushra had filed a petition in the IHC through Khosa, expressing concerns that her husband could be poisoned in prison.
She stated that tampering with her husband’s food could be detrimental to his life, emphasising that Imran was not being provided with the facilities to which he is entitled, as per the prison manual.
In the leaked audio, Bushra disclosed that she informed Imran’s sisters about hiring Khosa as her law-yer for all her cases, particularly those experiencing delays.
Khosa responded by saying that Imran’s sisters had accused him of misbehaving with them.
Bushra, recounting the sisters’ words, stated, “They said he (Khosa) misbehaved with us that we could never think about someone having the courage to do so”. Despite her advice against visiting Khosa’s office, she noted that Imran’s sisters insisted on doing so.
In response to the allegations, Khosa defended himself on the call, stating, “I’m not the one to misbe-have. I asked them to stop repeatedly insisting. Let me do it the way I find appropriate. This is what they are calling misbehaviour.” –Agencies
