Rana Sanaullah on Monday said the culprits behind the audio leaks had been found. He stated that the modus operandi of stealing those sound bites was not bugging but telephone tapping.
“Under the directives of the prime minister and the National Security Council, an investigation is underway, the results of which will be presented before the premier, and then it will be decided to what extent the findings be shared,” Sanaullah said while speaking on the private news channel.
The Interior minister claimed that it was not any agency’s deed, but the work of the Prime Minister House staffers, adding, “people do these things for money as well.”
Serious concerns about the security of such a significant government building have been raised by the recent appearance of audio snippets purportedly from a crucial meeting conducted in the Prime Minister’s House.
However, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had constituted a high-powered committee, comprising federal ministers and heads of intelligence agencies, to oversee the investigation into the leaks of conversations in the Prime Minister’s House (PMO).
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 her uncle 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 lawmakers’ resignations 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” on 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-principal secretary Azam could allegedly be heard discussing the US cypher in a meeting and how to use it to their (PTI’s) advantage.
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.
In its meeting just a day after on September 30, the federal cabinet also endorsed NSC’s decision to probe the matter thoroughly.
However, despite the government’s decision to investigate the matter, a couple more audios were leaked featuring Khan and his aides.
In the first of the two audios that were leaked on October 7, Khan allegedly discussed “buying five” and “numbers game” and talked about horse-trading. But he spoke alone, and no one else could be heard.
The former prime minister is reported to have discussed developing a plan with PTI leaders Shireen Mazari and Asad Umar before the no-confidence motion in another audio that was leaked later that day.