ISLAMABAD, Oct 7(ABC): Another leaked audio has gone viral on social media, allegedly featuring PTI chief Imran Khan, ex-human rights minister Shireen Mazari, and former planning minister Asad Umar, where the former premier could be purportedly heard asking his party’s leaders to “brand” people as Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq ahead of the no-confidence motion.
In the audio tape — the fourth tape in total and the third related to the cypher — the PTI chairman can be allegedly heard speaking about the US cypher and planning for the no-confidence vote in the National Assembly on Sunday. However, it is unclear whether the conversation took place ahead of April 3 or 11.
“Feed Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq narrative to people. The [people] going to the assembly for voting should be branded as Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq”, Khan could allegedly be heard saying in the leaked audio tape.
This was the second audio leak in a day. The one that came to the fore earlier, Khan was heard speaking alone, allegedly discussing horsetrading with an aide.
The third audio mentioned a 48-hour time period, which matches with the Supreme Court order that was issued on April 7. The top court had directed the National Assembly speaker to hold a vote on the motion no later than April 9.
The government has set up a committee to probe the leaked audio tapes — related to the ruling officials and the PTI — after back-to-back soundbites surfaced within a month.
Transcript
Asad Umar: “There’s another thing in hindsight that we’ve taken up with regard to the letter issue, we should have started it at least a week or 10 days ago.”
Imran Khan: “This letter, which we are thinking about, has had an impact across the world.”
Shireen Mazari: “The Chinese have issued an official statement […] that they condemn America’s interference in our internal affairs.”
Imran Khan: “The strategy is that the public is with us and now we have to channelise this public pressure [this Sunday] and ensure that the pressure reaches such a height that anyone who goes to the [National] Assembly to vote, they are branded for life. But the brand that you’ll assign would be: Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq. You have to spoonfeed people as their minds are already fertile ground and you have to feed them this [narrative].”
The audio leak saga
Several audios have been leaked online in a span of eight days — three of the incumbent government and two of PTI.
The first tape allegedly featured Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and a senior official. It contained a discussion regarding PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz asking for a power plant to be imported from India for her son-in-law.
On September 25, two more audios were leaked on social media. One of them was related to a discussion about the PTI’s resignation and the other was about former finance minister Miftah Ismail.
The first audio related to PTI was leaked on September 28, in which Khan allegedly told his then-principal secretary Azam Khan to “play” with the US cypher.
The second PTI audio leak came to the fore on September 30, which allegedly exposed Khan’s conspiracy narrative.
In it, the then-prime minister Khan, ex-minister Asad Umar, and the then-principle secretary Azam could allegedly be heard discussing the US cypher in a meeting and how to use it in their interest.
Following the back-to-back leaks, the National Security Council (NSC) approved the formation of a high-level committee under the leadership of Sanauallah to investigate the matter of the audio leaks.
In its meeting just a day after on September 30, the federal cabinet also endorsed NSC’s decision to conduct a thorough investigation into the issue.
However, despite the government’s decision to probe the matter, two more audios were leaked featuring Khan and his aides.
In the first audio leaked on October 7, Khan was allegedly heard speaking about horse-trading and discussed “buying five” and “numbers game”. However, he was speaking alone and no one else could be heard.
In another audio leaked later in the same day, the former prime minister was allegedly heard making a plan ahead of the no-confidence motion with PTI leaders Shireen Mazari and Asad Umar.
