Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday deplored “deliberate omission” in the Terms of Reference (ToRs) of the judicial commission formed by the government to investigate “authenticity of recent audio leaks and their potential impact on the independence of the judiciary”.
“The Federal Government has formed Inquiry Commission under Section 3 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 2017 to investigate into the issue of Audio Leaks. However, the Terms of Reference formed by the Federal Government suffer from a deliberate omission,” Imran Khan said in a tweet.
He said the government failed to take into account the issue that “who is behind unlawful and unconstitutional surveillance of PM office and sitting judges of the Supreme Court.”
He called for empowering the Commission to investigate “who are these powerful and unknown elements who tap and record telephone conversation of citizens including high public functionaries.”
“This is serious breach of privacy guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution,” he added.
Imran Khan demanded accountability of those who illegally retrieved data through unlawful phone tapping and surveillance. Those who through fabrication and tampering of different phone calls leaked them on social media also needed to be held accountable, he added.
HE said democracies governed by the rule of law proposed that the state should not arbitrarily intrude into certain aspects of life. “Right to privacy and dignity guaranteed under Article 14 are patently infringed whenever the state unlawfully surveils an individual.”
Some of the recent leaked calls were made over what was supposed to be a secure phone line in the Prime Minister’s Office, he said, adding “nevertheless, they unlawfully were tapped and fabricated/tampered with.”
“Seemingly, the elements behind such audacious tapping operate in a manner outside the command and even knowledge of the PM of Pakistan,” Imran Khan maintained.
“Who are these actors who are above the law and outside the command of even the prime minister of the country, and who resort to such illegal surveillance with impunity?,” the PTI chief inquired and called for identification of “such elements” by the Commission.
