Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has summoned a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) to discuss matters related to national security, including audio leaks allegedly featuring conversations of the premier with high-profile government officials.
Shehbaz and key members of his party and family became the centre of attention on Sunday after audio recordings purportedly of their conversation surfaced on social media.
The audios drew sharp criticism from the opposition, which expressed concerns over the security of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). However, several government ministers insisted that the audio recordings pointed to no wrongdoing.
According to an official statement issued on Monday, the NSC meeting will take place at the PM House tomorrow (Wednesday).
The top military and civilian leadership, including defence minister, interior minister, information minister, finance minister and other important cabinet members, will participate in the meeting. The huddle will discuss flood situation, national security and other matters. According to reports, the NSC meeting is expected to make important decisions in view of the audio leaks.
The participants will also be briefed on the situation of law and order in the country. By Sunday night, the government didn’t order any inquiry into the leaks; however, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said PM Shehbaz would look into it and might order an inquiry on his return from London.
“The decision to hold an inquiry into the audio leaks will be made by Prime Minister Shehbaz once he returns to Pakistan,” the government’s spokesperson said, without denying the authenticity of the leaked audio tapes. Reiterating that no inquiry had thus far been ordered by the prime minister, Marriyum said that the audio leaks were a proof of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) policy of promoting merit.
“Nowhere in those audio was anyone talking about diamonds and gifts,” the information minister quipped. For a long time, successive governments have been embroiled in audio and video leak scandals, but there has never been a comprehensive inquiry into any such incident. On every occasion, the truth lay somewhere between the allegations and denials. In the latest audio leaks, a voice, purported to be of Prime Minister Shehbaz, informed “a government official” about Maryam Nawaz looking to import machinery from India for a power plant on the request of her son-in-law Raheel.
A media report about the audio stated that “the official” was apprised that half of the machinery had already arrived. It added that the purported officer could be heard saying that this was a matter of “grave concern”, as being a relative of the prime minister, the issue could “wreak havoc if it comes to the knowledge of the ECC (Economic Coordination Committee) and then of the cabinet”. The voice thought to be of Shehbaz responded by saying that he would talk to Maryam himself after his return from Turkey, to which the purported official suggested leaving the matter to former finance minister Ishaq Dar.
Meanwhile, a joint investigation team (JIT) was constituted to investigate the data hacked from the Prime Minister’s Office. A high-level investigation has been initiated to probe the matter of data being leaked from the PMO, with one member each included from intelligence agencies in the JIT. The team will look into how the data was hacked and will have the authority to conduct an investigation involving the PMO’s staff.
