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.
