The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Acting Chief Justice Amir Farooq on Monday expressed anger at the petitioner’s counsel, who asked the court to carry out an investigation into the leaked tape.

“Is investigating the job of the Islamabad High Court? Are you an affected party of this audio leak?” the Acting Chief Justice queried.

It is pertinent to mention here that on July 15, a citizen named Mohammad Arshad filed the application in the high court through Advocate Asif Gujjar.

In his petition, Arshad said that audio recordings of phone calls and leaks interfered with people’s private lives and created a bad image of state institutions. The former first lady Bushra Bibi and former focal personal on digital media of the PTI Dr Arslan Khalid should be summoned to court and asked about the audio, he said.

The petitioner also called for a forensic investigation of the matter through the Cyber Crime Wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). He also called for action against the perpetrators of such crimes.

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Justice Amir Farooq furthered that drafting a writ regarding a “conversation of two private people” could set a dangerous precedent. “When drafting such a writ, think carefully about what the demands are,” he added.

Using ‘sea’ as a metaphor to emphasise the matter of the audio leak, the petitioner’s counsel argued that the issue had been explained in the application.

However, Justice Amir Farooq stated that “it does not matter to the court whether it is a sea, or a galaxy. The whole country will be involved in this, should we sit and start investigating everyone?” the justice remarked.

However, the Acting Chief Justice reserved its decision on the maintainability of the petition.