ISLAMABAD: The special committee probing the alleged audio leak of Najam Saqib, son of former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar, has decided to refer the matter to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) after a meeting held on Tuesday.
Earlier, an audio recording purportedly of the former chief justice’s son discussing distribution of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) election tickets for money had surfaced on social media.
In the audio clip, Najam Saqib can be allegedly heard discussing about his cut with a ticket-holder, Abuzar Chadar.
Subsequently, the National Assembly passed a motion, demanding the formation of a special parliamentary committee to investigate the alleged audio leak.
Earlier, meeting of the special committee had been summoned by National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.
Chairing the meeting, Aslam Bhutani said that the committee will forward the record of the proceedings of the House to the Supreme Court and investigate the issue of the audio leak.
The moot decided to write a letter to the Ministry of Interior Affairs to formally request the FIA to take over the investigation.
The committee is to issue instructions to the interior ministry regarding the FIA’s investigation and will seek a report from the FIA in 10 days.
Furthermore, Najam Saqib is also to be summoned by the committee. In this regard, Chairman Aslam Bhutani said that Saqib and the PTI ticket holders can come to the committee and share their stance on the matter.
However, the committee members remained divided on whether the FIA investigation should follow Saqib’s summoning or vice versa. Another meeting of the special committee is to decide this matter on Friday.
Meanwhile, Bhutani said that a thorough investigation will fulfil the requirements of justice. “We are not against any organization or person, we are against buying and selling [of party tickets].”
The committee chairman also revealed that “there is an opinion that this committee should also decide on whether or not the record of assembly proceedings be shared with the Supreme Court.”
Committee member Sheikh Rohail Asghar questioned under which law the record of proceedings was being sought.
Additional DG FIA said that the FIA conducts investigations on its own and on the instructions of the interior ministry.
Upon this, Bhutani said that instructions should be issued to the FIA by the interior ministry to conduct the investigation and the committee send the audio clip to the FIA for forensics.
Committee member Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees Tahir said to the chairman that the committee has given him the mandate, and so, he may summon the SC registrar.
However, Bhutani hesitated before issuing such orders and said that “it is necessary to consult the Ministry of Law before summoning the SC registrar”.
“If there was someone [in the committee] from the law ministry, legal consultation would have been easier,” he said as the committee expressed its displeasure at the non-participation of the law ministry in today’s meeting.
The special committee then deferred the issue of summoning the registrar to the committee subject to the opinion of the law ministry and decided to bring the issue of the ministry’s non-cooperation to the notice of the prime minister and the speaker.
