As if the previous string of audio clippings had not caused enough frenzy, yet another discreetly recorded conversation between a prime minister and his confidante is out of the bag. Interestingly enough, the tables have turned this time and the target has landed on the PTI’s back. Said to be an exchange between former premier Imran Khan and his then principal secretary, Azam Khan, the latest in the leaks saga is reverberating across the nation due to the controversial remark, “We have to play with this.” “This” being a much-talked-about cypher that Mr Khan has been using since April to orchestrate a showdown on the streets. That millions seem ready to follow his command come what may is another story altogether but the recent activity by ambitious hackers has brought to light a more pressing issue. With the PTI ready to shower accusations upon the sitting government, it had started as an awkward faux pas, something that could grip a news cycle or two and remind the masses how power in Pakistan literally meant opening gateways to nepotism. But the game has moved far, far above the scale of PML(N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz and her shenanigans. Unfurling as an unprecedented security lapse, the intelligence agencies have much to be accounted for. The whys and hows of private information falling into the lap of the dark web should be immediately investigated. May it be political leaders casually predicting the timing and content of the next rundown or those fishing for easy fame through their destructive analyses on social media, the committee announced by PM Sharif is expected to call them all in line. It goes without saying that things could not have come to such an embarrassing impasse if the security agencies had realised the counter-productive implications of this Orwellian surveillance. History is replete with examples of tapped phone calls and secret recordings used as fodder to blackmail politicians, the judiciary and bureaucrats. We, at Daily Times, cannot stress the crucial need to preserve chadar and char deewari. But the morality behind bugging devices can be dealt with once the tide settles down. For now, Islamabad should focus on nothing but the availability of exclusive clippings of our executive branch, containing a lot of classified information, on the internet. Our security, sovereignty and standing in the international community have all been turned into a tragic joke. *