Islamabad High Court Asks AGP To Assist Court In Audio Tape Case

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday asked for Attorney General's assistance on maintainability of a petition seeking to establish a commission to investigate the alleged audio tape linked with ex-chief justice Saqib Nisar

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Nov, 2021 ) :The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday asked for Attorney General's assistance on maintainability of a petition seeking to establish a commission to investigate the alleged audio tape linked with ex-chief justice Saqib Nisar.

Chief Justice IHC Justice Athar Minallah heard the plea filed by President Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHBA) Salahuddin Ahmed and Syed Haider Imam Rizvi on the issue.

The petitioners had stated that the alleged audio tape ha damaged the repute of judiciary and it was necessary to fix whether this audio content was fake or true.

An independent commission should be established to probe it transparently so that public trust in judiciary could be strengthened, it added.

The petition prayed the court to set up the commission comprising retired judges, lawyers, journalists and members from civil society.

At the outset of hearing, the chief justice asked the lawyers that how this plea was admissible.

The bench observed that the said audio tape was of that time when Saqib Nisar was Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Justice Minallah remarked that the judiciary had been facing big challenges and the bars had played an important role for the independence of judiciary.

"We were living in a society where social media was operating without regulations." he remarked.

The petitioner said, the matter went viral on social media and continuously being discussed.

The chief justice remarked, there were many things being discussed in social media, the court would not inquire everything. The court had to view things only under the law, he said.

The lawyer said the SHCBA had passed a resolution and prayed the court to also serve a notice to it if consider appropriate.

The chief justice said, the respected the bar association for the sake of rule of law in the country.

The alleged audio tape was related to appeals which were pending with IHC, adding that the concerned people of the appeals didn't express interest to come to the court.

The court said the political parties used to adopt different stances but didn't come court. In this situation the court also had to view the intentions, he added.

The court remarked, who had released the audio tape and what was its motive. Whether we should play at their tunes, he questioned.

The lawyer said this was the issue that the affected party didn't come to the court for relief.

The court sought assistance from attorney general of Pakistan and adjourned the plea till December 8.

Meanwhile, the ex-chief judge of Gilgit Baltistan Rana Shamim didn't submit answer to IHC in response to contempt of court show cause notice in controversial affidavit case.

However, chief editor of a national media house Mir Shakeel ur Rehman, journalist Absar Abbasi and others submitted their comments against the show cause notice.