Justice Babar Sattar | Pakistan

An Islamabad High Court (IHC) division bench on Thursday suspended an earlier order for the removal of retired Major-General Hafeezur Rehman from his post as the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) chairperson. The bench, comprising Justices Muhammad Asif and Inaam Ameen Minhas, had taken up Rehman’s intra-court appeal against the earlier ruling, issued by Justice Babar Sattar on Tuesday, which had ordered the PTA chief’s removal over his “illegal” appointment to the position. In his order, on a plea filed by digital rights activist Usama Khilji in 2023, Justice Sattar had ruled that the creation of a post for Member (Administration) in the PTA, and the subsequent appointment of Rehman as PTA chairman, were “unconstitutional, illegal and void ab initio”. His decision had been challenged by Rehman within hours of it being announced. Today, Advocate Qasim Wadud appeared as the counsel for the PTA chairman, while Additional Attorney General (AAG) Salman Mansoor also presented his arguments. At the outse...

The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday ordered the removal of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Chairman retired Major General Hafeezur Rehman due to his “illegal” appointment to the position. The decision came in a verdict by IHC’s Justice Babar Sattar in a case pertaining to the appointment of the PTA’s member (administration) filed by digital rights activist Usama Khilji in 2023. Rehman later filed an urgent intra-court appeal against the verdict. The order said the court had admitted the petition for hearing and directed the government not to proceed with the hiring, following which the government had filed an appeal for a stay of the court injunction, which was partially accepted, as the court had subsequently allowed the recruitment process to continue while warning that any appointment would be subject to the final determination in the case. It added that the court was subsequently informed in later hearings that Hafeezur Rehman, a retired major general, was appointed as the member (administration)...

A fresh controversy has erupted within the Islamabad High Court (IHC) as Justice Babar Sattar raised serious objections to the recently notified Islamabad High Court Rules 2025, calling them “legally unauthorised” and “unconstitutional.