The cabinet of Pakistan has formally given the go-ahead to hold an inquiry into recently-emerged audio leaks purportedly featuring Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and his party leaders.
On Friday, the country's cabinet suggested that legal action could be taken after a steady stream of audio recordings surfaced purportedly discussing the cypher that the PTI chief has long presented as evidence of a “foreign conspiracy” to oust him from office.
The audio leaks purportedly featured informal conversations between Imran and his aides, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar and his former principal secretary Azam Khan.
According to Dawn, “The cabinet constituted a sub-committee to deliberate and recommend actions regarding the conversation of the former Prime Minister Imran Khan, his political associates and the then secretary to the PM, available on the internet regarding the cypher message received from Parep Washington (Cypher No. 1-0678 dated March 7, 2022)”.
The cabinet also sought the implementation report on its suggestions “immediately”.
Senior PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the cabinet summary has “proved that the cypher is a reality”.
“The government has accepted our stance on the cypher,” he told a gathering in Multan on Sunday. Qureshi said his party is not afraid of the investigations announced by the government.
“We never took a step that harmed the interests of Pakistan. We served this country with dignity and will continue doing so,” he insisted.
Imran Khan gets bail after arrest warrant
A court in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad approved bail for Imran Khan a day after an arrest warrant was issued against him for remarks against police officials and a female judge.
On Sunday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered Khan to appear in court on October 7.
The warrant was issued after the former prime minister failed to appear for a hearing in the case at a sessions court in the capital city.
Hundreds of Khan’s supporters from his Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf Party (PTI) had gathered outside his home in Islamabad and thousands protested across different cities in the wake of the warrant.