ISLAMABAD: Justice Babar Sattar of Islamabad High Court (IHC) is once again proceeding on long leave from Nov 4 to Nov 21.

He was on a month-long vacation and will resume the office on Oct 30.

However, sources said that the judge will not hear cases as he ordered the registrar office to cancel the cause list of his court issued for the week from Oct 28.

The sources said Justice Sattar will do some chamber work from Oct 30 to Nov 1 and would go on leave from Nov 4.

The previous notification issued for the judge’s leave mentioned that Justice Sattar would be on leave from Sept 30 to Oct 29.

Earlier this year, the judge was part of a six-strong clique that sent a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council detailing harassment at the hands of intelligence operatives. Justice Sattar is also hearing the audio leak case in which state agencies are accused of snooping on citizens in an unlawful manner.

During the course of this case, the existence of a mass surveillance system ‘Lawful Intercept Management System’ to keep tabs on citizens was revealed.

In the same case, the judge filed a complaint before the IHC chief justice that he was being targeted because of his stance in the audio leaks case.

Justice Sattar had requested IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq to initiate contempt proceedings after personal details of his and his family, including their US residence permits, were posted online. The judge stated that the privacy of his family members was breached, and their identity cards and permanent residency cards were uploaded on social media.

Subsequently, the IHC directed the Federal Investigation Agency to proceed against the persons identified for spreading the personal data of Justice Sattar on social media.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2024