ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet has formally given the go-ahead to hold an inquiry into the audio leaks purportedly featuring former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his top aides discussing a controversial cypher and take legal action against them, it emerged on Sunday.
On Friday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet constituted a special committee to probe the recent audio leaks that purportedly feature Khan and his aides discussing a cypher he has incessantly used to accuse the government of being involved in a “foreign conspiracy” to oust him from office.
The matter once again became a topic of public debate after the emergence of another purported audio clip online on Friday, involving Khan, his then principal secretary Azam Khan and two top aides, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Asad Umar.
After its meeting on Friday, the cabinet expressed concern over the audio leaks and said it exposed the “criminal conspiracy” of former PM Khan and his government. The cabinet had called for a probe to bring its perpetrators to book.
As per Cabinet Division documents dated October 1, a sub-committee constituted by the cabinet held its meeting on Friday and recommended the following:
"It is a matter of national security, which is/was pre-judicial to national interest and needs legal action,” it said.
“Therefore, the apex investigation agency (FIA) may be directed to inquire into the matter by constituting a team of senior officers, which may co-opt officers/officials from other intelligence agencies for the purpose, and to proceed further against the perpetrators in accordance with the law."
The cabinet also demanded an implementation report on its suggestions immediately as per the document.
Khan, ousted via a parliamentary vote of confidence in April, has accused the political parties that now form the government of being part of a Washington-backed conspiracy to remove him from power.
Both Washington and the government of PM Sharif have denied the allegations.
PTI leader Qureshi welcomed the cabinet’s decision, saying that Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party had nothing to hide.
“We did not do anything which hurt Pakistan’s interests,” he said, adding the party had implemented recommendations from the National Security Committee and diplomatic circles by issuing demarche to Washington.
“Imran Khan tried not to name [the country] but when you issue a demarche, then obviously the name of the country emerged,” he said. “The truth was revealed before the nation then.”
Qureshi said Khan’s government had tried to present the cypher in the parliament so that its contents could be studied when it first emerged. He questioned the government’s motive of ordering an inquiry into the cypher now when several months had passed.