Judges are bugged: ex-CJ’s lawyer

The lawyer for Pakistan’s suspended chief justice Iftikar M Chaudhry today alleged that the telephones of judges are being tapped by intelligence agencies, and asked the Supreme Court to build “firewalls” to prevent "snooping".

The lawyer for Pakistan’s suspended chief justice Iftikar M Chaudhry today alleged that the telephones of judges are being tapped by intelligence agencies, and asked the Supreme Court to build “firewalls” to prevent “snooping”.

Lawyer Aitzaz Ahesan, continuing his arguments on Chaudhry’s petition challenging the Presidential Reference against him for alleged misconduct, said the conduct of a judge should not be assessed from information obtained through “illegal spying”.

“The consequences of illegal snooping should not reflect on the conduct of judges,” Ahesan told the 13-member bench of the apex court. “Any source must be a lawful source” and should be “clean, unsullied, untainted.”

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Criticising the manner in which information for the Presidential Reference against Chaudhry had been collected, Ahesan said: “The reference (against Chaudhry) is formulated admittedly on the basis of information received from intelligence agencies.”

Asked by Justice Ramdey whether the government has admitted this contention, Ahesan pointed to the affidavit filed by the chief of staff of President Musharraf, saying that was the reason why intelligence chiefs were present in the meeting between Musharraf and the chief justice.

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