Audio leaks: judicial commission to make proceedings public

The judicial commission formed to investigate the validity of audio leaks has announced that its proceedings will be made public.

The commission was formed under Section 3 of the Inquiry Commission Act 2017, which states that “whenever it is expedient to conduct an inquiry into any definite matter of public importance, the Federal Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, constitute a Commission of Inquiry in accordance with the provisions of this Act”.

The commission includes Supreme Court judge Qazi Faez Isa, Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamer Farooq.

During the hearing, the bench said that proceedings of the commission will be held in the Supreme Court building.

Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan also appeared before the three-member commission today.

Background

In March, an audio leak purported to be of a telephone conversation between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry and his brother Advocate Faisal Chaudhry emerged. In the alleged conversation between Fawad and Faisal, the names of three judges - Chief Justice Lahore High Court Muhammad Ameer Bhatti, Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, and Justice Mazahar Ali Naqvi - were mentioned.

Later, an alleged phone call between CJP Bandial’s mother-in-law and the PTI counsel’s wife was leaked online. In the purported audio, the two women can be heard discussing early elections, their support for the chief justice, and their resentment towards the incumbent government.

The two women also talk about their concern for the chief justice amid the ongoing election delay case which is being heard by a three-member bench at the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

They also vaguely discuss being in a Lahore rally where there were hundreds of thousands of people.

Recently, Justice Bandial said the audio and video leaks in social media have no authenticity.

Meanwhile, the government has also demanded a forensic audit of an alleged phone call and said that the judges mentioned in the audio should step down.