The Pakistani government has authorized the country’s premier spy agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), to intercept and trace calls and messages through any telecommunication system in the “interest of national security,” according to an official notification.
The notification, issued by the Ministry of Information Technology on Monday, grants this power under Section 54 of the Pakistan Telecommunication Act, 1996. This move comes months after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) was informed during a hearing on audio leaks that no intelligence agency had been permitted to tap audio conversations.
In December, Bushra Bibi, the wife of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, filed a petition seeking action against a leaked conversation purportedly involving her and her lawyer.
Earlier this month, an IHC order in a case related to the surveillance of citizens revealed that telecom companies in Pakistan operate a mass surveillance system. This system, enabled by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), allows for the interception of data and records of telecom customers without regulatory mechanisms or legal procedures.
The judgment noted that telecom companies have been required to “finance, import, and install” the Lawful Intercept Management System (LIMS) at designated surveillance centers for use by “designated” agencies. The specific agencies were not disclosed to the court.
The judgment also observed that 2%, or over four million, of the total telecom consumers in Pakistan could be surveilled simultaneously under this mass surveillance system.
A series of audio clips, including conversations involving Khan and his wife, were leaked on social media in the lead-up to the February 8 elections.
Last month, the Interior Ministry, in a written response to the Sindh High Court, described the social media platform X as a “threat to national security,” justifying a months-long ban on the platform in the country. The government banned X on February 17, following widespread protests against alleged rigging in the general elections, drawing significant public outcry.–News Desk