LAHORE: In a reply submitted to
the Supreme Court, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) director general (DG) has conceded that the agenc
y collected ‘details’ of the members of the joint investigation team (JIT) investigating the Panamagate case, but denied hacking any individual’s social media accounts or harassing their family.
The IB had previously been accused of spying on Bil
al Rasool, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s (SECP) representative in the JIT.
In his reply to the charge, DG IB Aftab Sultan said there was nothing extraordinary about the bureau’s activities, claiming that the collection of details on ‘important’ individuals
was a routine matter.
He also rejected the JIT’s claim that Bil
al Rasool and his wife were harassed by the IB.
“The Facebook account of Mr. Bil
al Rasool, which is also used by his wife/family, was ostensibly hacked to retireve the contents attached [with the application]… without the consent of Mr. Bil
al Rasool or his family,R
21; an application by the JIT submitted to the SC earlier had read.