Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday appealed to the Supreme Court to hear his petition seeking a probe into his own audio leaks, Pakistan-based Geo News reported.
Khan while addressing the nation via a video link from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore, said: “I request the Supreme Court to also hear my plea.” Khan asked the judiciary to take action against the numerous audio leaks related to him, his wife Bushra Bibi, as well as his party’s leaders and allies. He said: “Our fundamental rights were violated. If the prime minister speaks through a secure line and it gets leaked, then it is a violation of the Official Secrets Act. Our judiciary must take action against it.”
Last year, the former Pakistan prime minister, following his multiple alleged audio leaks released on the internet, approached the apex court to form a joint investigation team (JIT) or a judicial commission to investigate the PM House audio leaks while he was still in office. The court, however, returned his petition and raised objections against it stating that the application does not clarify how Article 184(3) applies to the audio leaks case. The PTI chief told the court: “Declare that the impugned actions, in particular, the illegal surveillance of the PMO and PMH and the release of the surveillance data, especially through the audio leaks, are unconstitutional and in violation of the law.”
Khan during his address on Sunday said that his discussion with his principal secretary Azam Khan, during his term as the prime minister, was taped via official line. “I was speaking to my principal secretary when I was the prime minister. It [the call] was tempered and leaked. When someone has to be blackmailed, their tapes are leaked,” he said.
He also spoke about his wife’s phone call being doctored and leaked. Imran Khan, while referring to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice-President Maryam Nawa, said that she spoke about “possessing” audio and video tapes in a press conference, while former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa has “also said that he has tapes”, Geo News reported. “With technology, anyone can make fake video and audio. The fake videos have been made. Three of our party’s senior leaders are being blackmailed,” Khan said. Recently, the media reported that in a series of audio leaks in Pakistan, another alleged conversation between PTI Chief leader and party chief Imran Khan’s wife was heard. They were talking about the wristwatches in possession of the former premier. In the 21-second clip, Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi can be heard telling the person on the other end, “There are a few [watches] that Khan sahib wants to be delivered to you so you could sell them. These watches are not in his use so he wants them to be sold off,” according to Dawn. In reply, a voice said to belong to Khan’s former aid, Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari said, “Sure, murshid. I will do it.”
The source of the audio recording could not be immediately established, and its veracity has been challenged by several quarters.
