ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet has decided to take legal action against former prime minister and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan over his recent alleged audio leaks about the US Cypher. The cabinet had declared the matter as of national security and decided immediate legal action against those involved.
A cabinet committee formed on 30th September has declared the US Cypher Audio Leak as a matter of national security, implying that legal action over it was necessary.
The committee has presented its recommendations before the cabinet, which were approved by the cabinet through circulation. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) will be tasked to investigate the matter.
In the viral audio leaks, Imran Khan, his party member Asad Umar and then Principal Secretary Azam Khan could be heard discussing the US cypher and formulating a strategy to use it for their interest.
The move comes after two audio leaks of the former prime minister and his aides went viral on the internet.
First Audio: Transcript and Content
In the first audio clip, Imran is allegedly heard saying: “We only have to play on this. We don’t have to name (any country). We only have to play with this, that this date was before. The new thing that will emerge is that the letter ….” Then, the second voice, believed to be of Azam, is heard, suggesting to Imran to hold a meeting on the cypher.
“See, if you recall, in that the ambassador has written in the end to (send) a demarche. Even if the demarche is not to be sent; I have thought a lot about it at night — you said they raised it — I thought about how to cover all this,” he says.
He says: “Let’s hold a meeting with Shah Mahmood Qureshi (who was the foreign minister during the PTI-led government’s tenure) and the foreign secretary. Shah Mahmood Qureshi will read out that letter and whatever he reads out will be converted into a copy. I will then make minutes that the foreign secretary has prepared this.
“But its (cypher’s) analysis will have to be conducted here. We will carry out the analysis and convert it into minutes as we want so that it becomes the official record,” Azam says and then elaborates that the analysis would conclude that it is an indirect threat: “It is called a threat in diplomatic language.”
Azam purportedly adds that “minutes are in my hands … we will draft the minutes.” Here, purportedly Imran is heard asking who would be called to the meeting: “Shah Mahmood, you, me and Sohail.”
Just these, the other person says. “We will do it tomorrow,” the person believed to be Imran replies. In turn, the voice, supposedly of Azam, is heard explaining that following this plan, “things will become a part of the record. Consider that he is the consulate for the state. When he will read it out, I will easily copy it and it will be on record that this has happened.”
Moreover, he suggests that “you (supposedly Imran) call the foreign secretary so that it doesn’t remain political and becomes a part of the bureaucratic record.” To this, the man believed to be Imran points out that an ambassador has written the cypher, implying that it should already be a part of the bureaucratic record since it has been written by an envoy.
“But we don’t have a copy of it. How did they release it?” the person on the other end is heard replying to Imran. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that the government will conduct a forensic audit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s leaked audio.
Second Audio Transcript
Imran Khan: Shah jee [Shah Mahmood Qureshi], we three [Imran Khan, Azam Khan and you] have to hold a meeting tomorrow, along with the foreign secretary [Sohail Mahmood]. [In the meeting], we will ask him to just sit quietly and write the minutes of the meeting as is. Azam [Khan] is saying to write the minutes […] and we will keep the photostat.
Azam Khan: This cypher came on the 7th, 8th or 9th [March]?
Another person [present in the meeting]: It came on the 8th.
Imran Khan: But the meeting took place on the 7th. We do not have to name Americans under any circumstances. So on this issue, please, nobody should name the country. This is very important for all of you. From which country did the letter come? I don’t want to hear it from anyone.
Asad Umar: Are you intentionally calling it a letter? Because this isn’t a letter, it is a transcript of the meeting.
Imran Khan: It is the same thing, whether it’s the meeting transcript or a letter. People won’t understand what a transcript is. You have to say this in your rallies.
