Tag: audio leaks

  • ‘Jhoot mein bolna nahi chahta, sach mein bol nahi sakta’: Imran Khan avoids confirming his meeting with COAS Bajwa

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan responded to speculation about his meeting with the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, as was reported by some journalists recently.

    On ARY News’ programme “Sawal Yeh Hai” with Maria Memon, when asked about the meeting, he said, “Jhoot mein bolna nahi chahta, sach mei bol nahi sakta”, (I don’t want to lie and I can’t tell the truth). However, he was of the view that negotiations should be held.

    Earlier, there was speculation that Khan had a meeting with COAS last month. The meeting was arranged by President Arif Alvi and was held at the President’s House in Islamabad. Reportedly, Khan and the COAS could not reach an agreement, but Khan toned down his rhetoric pertaining to the establishment after the meeting.

    About his recent audio leaks, Khan revealed that the first audio leak between him and his then-principle secretary Azam Khan was a telephonic conversation. According to him, he hasn’t listened to the second audio leak. “I can’t comment on it”, he responded.

    However, when asked that in this second audio leak he [Khan] insisted his party members use the word “letter” instead of “cipher”, the PTI Chairman said that there is nothing wrong with it as the general public wouldn’t have been able to understand the word cipher.

    About the controversial cipher, Khan said he had not made the cipher public at once because at the time, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting was in progress in the capital and it would have been inappropriate to share the cipher then.

    He said that these leaks are a security breach as the secure line Prime Minister’s (PM) Office got leaked.

    During the interview, Khan said that he is always ready to be arrested. “These people don’t have democracy and morality in them”, he added.

    According to the former PM, when he gets disqualified, the government will hold elections.

    He termed his Toshkhana case as “open and shut”. He said he did nothing wrong in the case which is pending against him in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP.)

    It is pertinent to mention here that Khan is accused of selling state gifts and failing to disclose their value in his annual tax returns.

    Speaking about the upcoming long march, Khan said the date would be announced within a week. He said Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Pervaiz Elahi is an ally of the PTI and he would support the party in its march.

    About the departure of for­­mer premier Nawaz Sha­rif to London during the PTI government on medical grounds, Imran Khan commented that when Nawaz Sharif went out of the country, he came to realise that “Everything is possible” in Pakistan.

    “Unfortu­na­tely our justice system is weak due to which these people are benefitting,” he said in a comment on the cases agai­nst his political opponents.

  • ‘Is meeting mei mein majood tha’: Imran Khan’s former aide confirms that Khan insisted on not naming US

    ‘Is meeting mei mein majood tha’: Imran Khan’s former aide confirms that Khan insisted on not naming US

    Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan’s former aide Maulana Tahir Ashrafi confirmed the authenticity of the latest audio leak of Khan and his party members discussing cipher in a meeting.

    While on the Geo News’ programme Jirga, Ashrafi, referring to the second audio leak, said, “Mei meeting mei mein majood tha”. (I was present in the meeting too)

    Ashrafi was a special representative to the former PM on religious harmony.

    Ashrafi also confirmed that the former PM told the participants of the meeting that they would call it a letter instead of cipher, reports Geo News.

    The former PM said he would not like anyone to name the US while talking about the regime change conspiracy, but then he himself named the US impulsively, Ashrafi remarked.

    The former aide also added that Khan’s five cabinet members should tell on oath if they were sure of the US regime change conspiracy against their government.

    How could a Grade-22 officer dare say he would change the cipher, asked Ashrafi.

    Ashrafi also revealed that Khan said he had a “terrific thing”, and he would play with it.

    What is in the audio leaks?

    In the first audio leak, Khan can be heard telling his then principal secretary Azam Khan about cipher, “Khelna hai is ke uper” (We will play on this)

    In the second audio leak, Imran Khan directed his close aides not to take America’s name while talking about the US cipher in public. He also insisted on using the word “letter” instead of cipher, because according to him “People wouldn’t have understood the word transcript if you say things like this in your jalsa.”

  • PM Shehbaz audio leaks: PTI Supreme Court pohanch gayi

    PM Shehbaz audio leaks: PTI Supreme Court pohanch gayi

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) moved Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday to investigate the matter of Prime Minister (PM) House audio leaks of PM Shehbaz Sharif and his party members including some federal ministers.

    The former ruling party has requested the top court to seek criminal charges against PM Shehbaz and his team for hatching a “criminal conspiracy”.

    One of the many audio leaks allegedly concerns a conversation between PM Shehbaz, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Law Minister Azam Tarar, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, and former National Assembly (NA) speaker Ayaz Sadiq about the resignations of PTI MNAs. The audio is said to be a recording of a cabinet meeting.

    Party leaders can be allegedly heard discussing whose resignations from PTI will be accepted. Moreover, the leaders can be heard saying that the final decision will be taken by PML-N Supremo Nawaz Sharif who is in London.

    “The incumbent prime minister and his cabinet members can be heard discussing a heinous strategy to outplay the petitioner from the parliamentary politics in a most illegal, unlawful and objectionable manner,” the PTI said in the petition about the audio leak.

    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.

    The party said that PM Shehbaz, Information Minister Maryum Aurangzeb and Rana Sanaullah have admitted the existence of audio leaks.

    The PTI claimed that the PM and his cabinet members with the aid of incumbent NA Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf violated their oath and utterly disregarded the law and constitution.

    A total of six audios featuring PM and his party leader have been leaked while two audio leaks featuring Imran Khan and his party members have come to light.

  • Imran asks ‘neutrals’ who is responsible for PMO audio leaks?

    Imran asks ‘neutrals’ who is responsible for PMO audio leaks?

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday asked the “neutrals” — the term he uses for the military establishment — who was responsible for the security breach at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

    “I ask them [neutrals] that the audio leaks of the Prime Minister Office […] if the security of the Prime Minister Office has been breached […] this means that our enemies have our sensitive information,” Imran said in a speech at Edwardes College in Peshawar today. “Who is responsible for this,” he asked.

    “I ask the protectors today […] if robbers are looting a house, can the guards say that they are neutral? What will the residents say? That the house is being looted but the guards say they are neutral,” Imran said, claiming that Pakistan, too, was being “looted” today.

    Responding to Khan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz said, ““The massive security breach you have done sitting in the PMO with your secretary and followers, even the biggest enemies of Pakistan couldn’t compete with it,” she tweeted.

    “A foreign-funded evil mind has been playing with the destiny of the country for the past four years and has the nerve to do that same today,” Maryam added.

    Khan’s comments come in relevance to his audio leaks related to the cipher and the foreign conspiracy.

  • ‘Imran Khan aur is ka coach shamil hain’, Maryam Nawaz claims that she knows who is behind audio leaks

    ‘Imran Khan aur is ka coach shamil hain’, Maryam Nawaz claims that she knows who is behind audio leaks

    After getting acquitted by Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz accepted that four recent audio leaks were hers.

    While speaking outside the court, Maryam claimed that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and his “coach” were behind these audio leaks.

    “I know who is doing all of this. Yeh Imran Khan aur is ka coach shamil ha” (Both Imran Khan and his coach are involved), she said.

    In response to a question, Maryam said a nexus comprising “Imran, his coach and a couple of TV channels” were behind the audio leaks.

    Reaction to her audio leaks:

    She also reacted to the leaks in which an unknown person and her uncle [Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif] could be heard talking about purchasing machinery for her son-in-law’s plant from India. She claimed that “Imran Khan should be ashamed because Raheel purchased the first half of machinery during his tenure as PM”.

    According to her, “Raheel submitted an application to purchase the second half of machinery but PM Shehbaz told him that now Pakistan has stopped importing things from India”. She added after that the “Matter was closed then”.

    Commenting on the audio in which she asked PM Shehbaz to discontinue the PTI’s Sehat Card initiative, Maryam insisted that the health project was launched by PML-N supremo Nawaz.

    “I asked the PM to own the programme launched by his party and I never said to discontinue the initiative,” she said.

    ‘Imran Khan did forgery in PM Office’: Maryam Nawaz

    On Imran Khan’s audio leaks, Maryam Nawaz said, “Imran thinks of Pakistan as Oval Ground and Qadaffi Stadium. He used to tamper then as a cricketer, now he is passing instructions that do tampering with minutes of the meeting.”

    In the audio leak, which was released on Wednesday, Khan discusses how to frame the narrative around the alleged conspiracy that resulted in the ouster of his government. He tells his then principal secretary Azam Khan: ‘Iss par hi khelna hai’, (let’s play with it) without mentioning the name of the United States and they discuss how to form a team on the issue.

    Maryam Nawaz also took a jibe at former First Lady Bushra Bibi, saying that “She told Ex Focal Person Digital Media to former PM, Arslan Khalid, to make a statement against Khan’s opponents and run a campaign to prove them, traitors, while her husband who was in power at the time did forgery in PM Office.”

    She also demanded that a “high-powered” joint investigation team (JIT) — consisting of government ministers, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials and law ministry representatives — be formed to probe the alleged audio leak of Imran Khan and Azam.

    “I believe the facts that have emerged should lead to his [Imran’s] arrest and he must be jailed straightaway,” she said.

    ‘NAB made a video of me while I was in night suit’: Maryam Nawaz

    Moreover, she said when NAB arrested her in Karachi, a person made a video of her without consent while she was in her night suit.

    “If they release this video, nothing can be more shameless and cheap”, she added.

    She also said, “If the video releases, people will see how they treated me in jail”.

    On Thursday, IHC acquitted Maryam Nawaz and her husband Captain (retd) Safdar in the Avenfield reference, nullifying the conviction handed to them in 2018 by an accountability court.

  • Gen Bajwa told Imran Khan that it is not safe to talk at PM House, says Fawad

    Gen Bajwa told Imran Khan that it is not safe to talk at PM House, says Fawad

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry said that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa had informed former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan multiple times that the PM House is unsafe for important conversations.

    “The army chief told Imran Khan that the points that what we discuss here is recorded and leaked later on,” he said, adding that, “General Bajwa had said Nawaz Sharif stepped out of PM House when he wanted to talk to him about some vital issue.”

    The PTI leader said that it is unacceptable for PM Office to be hacked, regardless of who is premier — whether Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif or Imran Khan.

    Fawad said he doesn’t support the PM’s telephones being tapped.

    Fawad’s comments come after several audio leaks of PM Shehbaz Sharif along with federal minister were leaked.

    On Wednesday, September 28, an audio of Khan was leaked as well.

    Khan can be heard talking about the alleged foreign conspiracy against him with his then principal secretary Azam Khan.

    He tells Azam Khan: ‘Iss par hi khelna hai’, without mentioning the name of the United States, and they then discuss how to form a team on the issue.

    The “cipher” lies at the heart of PTI’s claim that the US plotted with individuals within Pakistan to remove Khan from office. It is based on then-envoy Asad Majeed’s meeting with State Department employee Donald Lu.

  • Govt to conduct forensic audit of Shehbaz, Imran audios: Sanaullah

    Govt to conduct forensic audit of Shehbaz, Imran audios: Sanaullah

    Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Wednesday said that the federal government will conduct a forensic audit of Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Tehrek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s leaked audios.

    Sanaullah — during a press conference in Islamabad — said that if Khan’s audio is real, then he should be exposed before the nation. “Khan has created a narrative of an American conspiracy to mislead the nation and divide it,” he said.

    Criticising the PTI chief, the interior minister said that Khan has caused “Irreparable damage to Pakistan and destroyed the country’s economy and political culture.”

    “I will show students Imran Khan’s awful face,” said Sanaullah with reference to Khan’s recent appearance at a university, adding that this “political fitna” (political miscreant) has to end in a political way.

    Sanaullah also said that Khan’s political narrative will be exposed.

  • ‘Imran Khan ki videos dekhaanay ya dekhnay ke qabil nahi hain’: Rana Sanaullah claims to have seen videos of Khan

    ‘Imran Khan ki videos dekhaanay ya dekhnay ke qabil nahi hain’: Rana Sanaullah claims to have seen videos of Khan

    Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Tuesday claimed to have seen secret videos of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, which he claimed were “neither worthy of being seen nor being shown”.

    “[Imran Khan] ki videos dekhanay ya dekhnay ke qabil nahi hain,” said Sanaullah. Translation: Imran Khan’s videos are neither worthy of being seen nor being shown.

    Sanaullah while speaking on Geo News programme, ‘Capital Talk’ said, “The alleged audio does not damage PM Shehbaz’s reputation because there is nothing wrong in it,” adding that recording something in today’s day and age was no big deal.

    Talking about Khan’s video, Sanaullah also said that he does not have access to the videos.

    Earlier today, in a new leaked audio, the former prime minister can be heard talking about the alleged foreign conspiracy against him with his then principal secretary Azam Khan.

    Khan discusses how to frame the narrative around the alleged conspiracy that resulted in the ouster of his government. He tells Azam Khan: ‘Iss par hi khelna hai’ (let’s play with this), without mentioning the name of the United States. They discuss how holding a meeting with the Foreign Secretary and then-Foreign Minister Shah Mahmud Qureshi in which allegedly Azam Khan can be heard discussing the minutes of the meeting.

  • ‘Agar PM house ko secure karna hai, toh mobile phones ko band karna hoga’: Khurram Dastgir

    ‘Agar PM house ko secure karna hai, toh mobile phones ko band karna hoga’: Khurram Dastgir

    Federal Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan has said that “Agar PM house ko secure karna hai, toh mobile phones ko band karna hoga.” (If one wants to secure the Prime Minister’s (PM) house, the use of mobile phones should not be permitted within the premises.)

    The minister’s remarks came after several audio leaks allegedly of PM Shehbaz Sharif have surfaced on the internet.

    Dastagir was of the view that “These security necessities are important as high-level talks take place at the PM office”, adding that that’s why “we need to secure it”.

    About his fellow party member Senator Ishaq Dar, Dastgir said, “Dar has remained finance minister twice in emergency situations. We hope that nation will benefit from his vast experience.”

    Dar took oath as a senator today (Tuesday) and will take over the finance ministry tomorrow.

    After the audio leaks surfaced online, the federal government constituted a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to investigate the data hack.

    An investigation has been initiated to probe the leak from the PM House, with one member each in the JIT to be included from the country’s intelligence agencies.

    The premier also called a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) on Wednesday, September 27, to discuss the matter.

    On Saturday, September 24, alleged audios of PM Shehbaz and other Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders, including some federal ministers and Vice-President PML-N Maryam Nawaz, appeared online.

  • ‘Kya Imran Khan ne hum se poocha jab army chief ko extension deni thi?’ Shehbaz lambasts Khan

    ‘Kya Imran Khan ne hum se poocha jab army chief ko extension deni thi?’ Shehbaz lambasts Khan

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday, September 27, stressed that the appointment of the new army chief will be through “law and constitution” and that “everyone is going to follow it”.

    “They want to bring their own army chief… they are afraid that if a strong and patriotic army chief is appointed then he would ask them about the looted wealth,” the PTI chief had said about the government at a rally in Faisalabad earlier this month.

    Imran had also called out the incumbent government for consulting an “absconder” and “convict” — former Prime Minister and PML-N Supremo Nawaz Sharif — for the crucial decision, claiming that it was against the Constitution.

    At the press conference today, Shehbaz asked, “Did Imran Khan consult us before giving an extension to the army chief?”

    He also said that he didn’t see anything wrong in consulting Nawaz. “What’s the point of criticising my talks with Nawaz? He is my leader and I discussed Pakistan’s issues with him,” he asserted.

    The premier termed the audio leaks between key figures in the coalition government a “very serious lapse” as he announced that a high-level committee would be constituted to probe the matter.

    Shehbaz said the “audio leaks” scandal was a critical matter and he was in the process of forming a high-level committee to probe into it.

    “Who is going to visit the Pakistani prime minister from overseas now?” the PM questioned. “This scandal has put the prestige of a 220 million-strong nation at stake.”

    “I am taking notice of this and a committee will be formed and reach the depth of this matter,” PM Shehbaz said.

    Audio recordings of conversations between key government figures — including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz and some members of the federal cabinet — discussing governance matters privately surfaced over the weekend, prompting concerns over the security of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

    Sharif said that previously several audios relating to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan were leaked but no questions were raised on that. “Have you heard the conversation about diamonds? About the piece of land that was given to them as a gift? You don’t talk about it but you are discussing this matter,” said the PM.

    “Imran Niazi brutally used his force to target opponents,” he reminded the media.

    “He called [ex-FIA DG] Bashir Memon to his office and asked him to file cases against his rivals. This is on record. Did I amend the policy, there is no question about it. You must do justice. I will apologise to the nation if I did something wrong.”

    “Imran also sold Toshakhana gifts, why aren’t those audios being leaked. The audios on the increase in sugar prices should surface […] this is a billion-rupee scam.”

    “Imran said he will form a commission. Was anyone caught, was anyone punished? Billions of dollars from Pakistan were wasted,” the prime minister pointed out, claiming that Imran’s “corruption is a long saga”.

    Shehbaz said that Imran did not spare any opportunity of “Dividing the army and institutions”, highlighting that the PTI chief was creating polarisation which could take the country towards destruction.

    “This is an alarm bell. This man is a risk to the country,” he concluded.