Farooq Naeem—AFP
The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), in a report submitted to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) last week, has suggested “ordinary” individuals or hackers may be responsible for recent audio leaks involving prominent politicians, lawyers, judges and their relatives.
According to the report, submitted via the Defense Ministry in a case related to the audio leak of an alleged conversation between lawyer Sardar Latif Khosa and Bushra Bibi, various readily available tools have the capability to record audio from smartphones. Additionally, it said, certain groups also provide paid services to secretly extract data from devices through multiple means.
“Possibility exists, callers can also record each other’s conversations/calls on speaker and afterwards it may/can be leaked or hacked,” it said, adding the advent of Artificial Intelligence had also made it easy to mimic voices and alter contents of conversations. To a query of Justice Babar Sattar over tracing the source of the leaks, the spy agency said it lacked this capability.
“Being encrypted traffic, technically it is not possible to ascertain the source; only SM [social media] platforms can provide information,” it said, adding that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s cybercrimes wing, designated under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act to investigate cybercrimes, was suitable for this task. “Section 35 of PECA has the powers to have access to or demand any information in readable and comprehensive format or plain version from service providers,” it said, referring to social media platforms where recent leaks have gone public. In this regard, it suggested, the court should direct the FIA’s cybercrime wing to probe the matter and obtain more information.
The ISI’s report was submitted alongside reports of the FIA and the Intelligence Bureau during hearings of petitions filed by Bushra Bibi, Imran Khan’s wife, and Najam Saqib, son of former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar. Both petitioners have sought a stay on investigations linked to the allegedly leaked conversations. The case, adjourned until January, has also sought reports from all mobile service providers on how calls could be recorded illegally.
In the last hearing, the Prime Minister’s Office informed the court that no agency in the country had been authorized to record private conversations.