After Shehbaz Sharif audio leak controversy, Imran Khan's conversation leaked over "foreign conspiracy' in Pakistan

Sep 28, 2022

Islamabad [Pakistan], September 28 : In a series of audio leaks in recent days in Pakistan, another alleged conversation between Former country's Prime Minister Imran Khan and Principal Secretary Azam Khan about the "US conspiracy" went viral as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief can be heard saying "Let's play with it".
It is pertinent to mention that "US conspiracy" refers to the foreign conspiracy which Imran Khan termed it as the conspiracy by the US to topple the PTI government and replace it with Shehbaz Sharif's government in Pakistan.
According to The News International, in the latest leaked audio, Imran Khan could be heard directing his then principal secretary that they should play with the "cypher issue without taking the name of the United States."
"Let's play with it," Imran Khan believed to be said in the audio, to which Azam Khan suggested that they should hold a meeting on the US cypher to bring it on record.
Earlier, audio clips purported of Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with government officials and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz had also surfaced online.
It is to be noted that after those controversial audio leaks, Imran Khan on Monday said that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja should resign "if he had any shame," media reports said.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan claimed that the audio leak is proof that the CEC, Sultan Raja, is in cahoots with the Sharif family and his alleged involvement in corruption, reported Pakistani local media The Express Tribune.
Coming to the latest audio clip of Imran Khan, The News International quoted him, "Ok, so now let's just play with it. We don't need to name America. We will just play over it and say that the date was already there."
Responding to this, Azam Khan said, as per the publication: "Sir, I was thinking...that we should hold a meeting on this cypher issue. If you might remember, the ambassador mentioned at the last of the letter that we should issue a demarche. If you still don't want to issue a demarche, because I thought over it last night....how can we cover this? Let's call a meeting of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Foreign Secretary (Sohail Mahmood)."
"There, we will ask Shah Mahmood Qureshi to read out the letter. So whatever he will tell us, I will type it down and convert it into [meeting] minutes that the foreign minister said this and the foreign secretary said this. After this, we will write the analysis as we deem fit, so it becomes part of the record. In the analysis, we will say that the language used [in the letter] in diplomatic norms is considered a threat .......and things like that. See, the minutes [of the meeting] are in my hand, we can draft them according to our wishes."
Earlier, an audio clip featuring Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz had surfaced online, where they were asking to stop the health insurance card program, as per local media.
After the audio leaked, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail stepped down in the middle of a trip abroad and made way for PML-N leader Ishaq Dar.
Ishaq Dar was involved in several corruption cases. Earlier, in May, the Pakistan court issued a perpetual arrest warrant against former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in "corruption reference."
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed the reference against Dar, who has been declared an absconder in the case since he has missed hearings owing to his prolonged stay in London, that the former Minister had acquired assets beyond his known sources of income, Dawn newspaper reported.