ISI gets govt backing to trace, intercept calls, messages

Islamabad: The Shhebaz government has allowed the country's premier spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to intercept and trace calls and messages in the apprehension of an offence against national security, sources said on Tuesday.

The federal cabinet has approved the relevant circular allowing a designated officer of the ISI to carry out the tracing of calls under Section 54  of the Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act 1996.

However, the officer nominated by the agency cannot be of less than grade 18, the sources added.