Pakistan audio leak controversy: Imran Khan's party files petition for judicial probe
Islamabad, October 1
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf filed a petition on Saturday in the Supreme Court seeking the judicial investigation in the Prime Minister’s house audio leak case and also sought criminal charges against PM Shehbaz Sharif and his team for hatching a “criminal conspiracy”.
A series of audio clips have been leaked over the last week, featuring Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz and former PM Imran Khan, which sparked widespread criticism from the opposition and raised questions about the cyber security of the house, Geo News reported.
One of the leaked audiosheard PM Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and others discussing PTI’s resignations.
In that audio, the leader also talked about ‘London’s permission’ to accept the resignations.
“…incumbent prime minister and his cabinet members […] can be heard discussing a heinous strategy to outplay the petitioner from the parliamentary politics in most illegal, unlawful and objectionable manner,” the PTI said in the petition about the audio leak as quoted by Geo News.
The petition said that the entire discussion revolves around a “criminal strategy/conspiracy” to affect and target the party through piecemeal acceptance of the resignations tendered by PTI’s MNAs on April 11.
In a press conference on Tuesday, the party said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif admitted the “actuality and existence” of the referred audio leaks.
“It is also important to bring on record that the Information Minister Maryum Aurangzeb and Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan have already admitted the reality of the audio leaks,” the petition stated.
PTI also claimed that the PM and the cabinet members with the help of National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf had disturbed their oath and utterly disregarded the law and the constitution, according to geo News.
“The admission on the part of the incumbent federal government requires stern action against the prime minister and the federal ministers,” the petition said.
Earlier, Imran Khan’s audio clips leaked where he was heard speaking about the “US conspiracy” as the PTI chief said, “Let’s play with it”.
It is pertinent to mention that “US conspiracy” refers to the foreign conspiracy which Imran Khan termed as the conspiracy by the US to topple the PTI government and replace it with Shehbaz Sharif’s government in Pakistan.
According to The News International, in the latest leaked audio, Imran Khan could be heard directing his then principal secretary that they should play with the “cypher issue without taking the name of the United States.” “Let’s play with it,” Imran Khan believed to be said in the audio, to which Azam Khan suggested that they should hold a meeting on the US cypher to bring it on record.
Prior to that, audio clips purported of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with government officials and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz had also surfaced online.
