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Islamabad [Pakistan]September 26 (ANI): Pakistani Prime Minister Sheikh Baz Sharif on Wednesday convened a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) to discuss action in response to an audio leak that surfaced on social media a day earlier.
According to ARY News, the NSC meeting will be held at 3:00 pm on Wednesday, and the NSC meeting will be briefed on the audio leak from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), sources said.
It added that service chiefs, intelligence officials and civilian leaders would be in attendance.
The federal government has decided to set up a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to investigate the audio leak from the Prime Minister’s Office. The JIT will also include officials from secret agencies to investigate the audio leak from the Prime Minister’s Office.
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Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanura said on Sunday that Prime Minister Sheikh Baz Sharif had noticed an audio leak involving the prime minister and the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and had launched an investigation.
Sanaullah said the investigation into the leaked audio would involve senior officials from all agencies. The probe body will ask if the data has been hacked or stolen and sold. According to ARY News, the investigative team will also look into whether PM House was tapped with equipment, or whether it was a mobile recording.
The inquiry will be authorised to include PM House staff in the inquiry. The publication added that it would also investigate the issue, which officials were in the Prime Minister’s Office when the recording was made.
Imran Khan, head of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), came under fire at Shehbaz Sharif, saying: “Now, after this audio leak, if there is any shame on Shehbaz Sharif, he should resign.”
He reiterated that the ruling coalition is extremely corrupt and only cares about their personal interests. Khan added that recent audio leaks confirmed that they came to power for personal gain and had no interest in providing relief to ordinary people suffering from hyperinflation.
He also called for Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja to resign.
Several audio clips of leaders of the ruling government surfaced on social media on Sunday, before the PTI questioned the security of the prime minister’s office, saying the audio leak showed the state of cybersecurity in the country and demonstrated the power of the ruling coalition to enter to make money.
In clips shared by several PTI leaders, a conversation was heard between Pakistan Muslim League N Vice Chairman Maryam, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, Law Minister Azam Tarar, Sanaullah and former NA spokesman Ayaz Sadiq and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The first clip, Dawn reported, is said to be a conversation between PML-N Vice President Maryam and PM Shehbaz about the country’s Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, who has reportedly been criticized within the party for taking draconian economic measures.
The vice-president of PML-N has publicly stated that she disagrees with the decision to raise gasoline and electricity prices, saying she does not own such decisions, whether her party is in government or not.
However, according to ARY News, the minister said there was nothing to be embarrassed about after the audio leaked.
The second video is said to be of Prime Minister, Defence Minister Hawaja Asif, Law Minister Azam Talal, Home Minister Rana Sanura and former National Assembly spokesman Ayaz Sadiq Conversation between PTI lawmakers resigning from lower house of parliament.
The third clip is said to be a conversation between Mariam and Prime Minister Sheikh Baz about the return of former Pakistani military leader Pervez Musharraf.
A day earlier, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry shared a two-minute-long clip on his Twitter handle, claiming it showed the prime minister putting his family’s business interests ahead of national interests.
In the more than two minutes of recording, a voice – said to be that of Shehbaz Sharif – can be heard saying that Maryam Nawaz Sharif had asked him to assist her son-in-law Raheel in importing machinery from a power plant in India, Dawn reported.
Notably, Maryam Nawaz’s daughter Mehrunnisa married Raheel, son of industrialist Chaudhry Munir, in December 2015. (ANI)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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