Two embassies bug phone calls of important figures

Senate Committee on Interior told cabinet meetings during the PPP govt were also tapped

By our correspondents
June 13, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Two foreign embassies in the federal capital are bugging telephones of important personalities, the Senate Standing Committee on Interior was informed on Friday.
The committee chairman and former interior minister Rehman Malik said during the PPP tenure, cabinet meetings were also spied upon, adding that a federal cabinet meeting was cancelled after signals could not be stopped.
Rehman Malik said nowadays a new device for espionage could tap any phone within a 10-kilometer radius.”Two foreign embassies tap people’s phones in Islamabad and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) should act against them,” he added.
Senator Rehman Malik said phones of former president Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif and also his phone were being tapped. He said the embassies started bugging phones in 2012, adding that even today the Cabinet Room was being spied upon and bugging signals could be detected.
He said when he was the interior minister two windows of his house had to be closed by cement to stop the bugging signals.During the meeting, PTA Chairman Ismail Shah said security agencies could detect the spying signals.
Director General Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Akbar Hoti revealed that through new technology, instead of tapping phones, voices were being recorded. Whether you talk at home, office or anywhere, it can be recorded from outside, he added.