Authorities help to investigate potential criminals, telecom firms are now permitted to exchange data with the Islamabad High Court (IHC).This comes after previous investigations’ roadblocks that prevented telecom companies from giving authorities surveillance data. Justice Babar Sattar granted the first restraining order on May 29 in response to petitions pertaining to audio leaks.
Standard operating procedures (SOPs) provided by the interior division to allow the exchange had not been followed by telecom operators, who had stopped working with the police and stopped sending Call Detail Records and live locations of suspected criminals. Now that the legality of these directives has been established, the IHC has made it clear that telecom licensees will go on exchanging data in accordance with these SOPs.
In his decision, Justice Sattar highlighted that surveillance needs permission under the Telegraph Act and the Telecommunication Act and that it must be carried out in accordance with the Fair Trial Act, which requires a high court judge’s warrant. Unauthorized surveillance violates the Constitution’s guarantees of citizens’ fundamental rights, including liberty, dignity, and privacy.
The court ordered telecom firms to forbid unlawful surveillance and that intelligence and law enforcement agencies could only undertake surveillance in accordance with the Fair Trial Act until the next hearing.
