Pakistani judges order sweep for bugging devices
Declan Walsh in Islamabad
Tuesday July 3, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Pakistan's supreme court judges have ordered a
sweep of their homes and courtrooms for spying
devices after the government presented what they
described as "scandalous" evidence in its case
against the suspended chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
The supreme court rejected a dossier containing
surveillance photos of Mr Chaudhry's home and
transcripts of apparently bugged conversations,
marked "secret", that was presented to the court yesterday.
The 13-judge bench reprimanded the government for
producing "vexatious and scandalous" material,
suspended the legal licence of one of the
government's lawyers , and banned intelligence
agents from all future hearings of the superior courts.
The court ordered the Intelligence Bureau,
Pakistan's main civilian spy agency, to ensure
all bugging or other surveillance devices were
removed from the homes and offices of supreme court judges within one week.
Justice Khalil-ur Rehman Ramday said the court
had been compelled to act after repeated
allegations that the intelligence agencies were
"swarming this court and persistently spying upon the honourable judges".
He fined the government 100,000 rupees (£820),
which should be donated for the benefit of flood
victims in Baluchistan province.
The controversy is the latest setback for Pervez
Musharraf's efforts to sack Mr Chaudhry, whose
plight has become a rallying point for pro-democracy forces across the country.
Gen Musharraf accuses Mr Chaudhry of corruption
and malpractice; critics say the general wants to
remove an independent-minded judge, who could
complicate his plans for another term of office later this year.
But the general is losing the battle. Cries of
"Musharraf is a dog" have become common at
well-attended anti-military rallies across the
country since early March. Now speculation is
growing in the local press that Gen Musharraf may
try to defuse the crisis by calling a snap
election, although such a move would be highly
risky given his current unpopularity.
Gen Musharraf has fuelled the controversy by
partly relying on information provided by his
notoriously politicised spy services to support his case against Mr Chaudry.
Last month the heads of the three main
intelligence agencies- Inter-Services
Intelligence, Military Intelligence, and the
Intelligence Bureau - gave evidence to the
supreme court outlining their attempts to persuade Mr Chaudhry to resign.
Yesterday Akhtar Ali, the government lawyer
suspended by the supreme court, said he had been
given the controversial surveillance photos and
bugging transcripts by a senior official in the ministry of law.
Mr Chaudhry's court action against the government is due to resume today.
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