Sheikh Rashid’s leaked audio mentions payment for Sharaqpuri

RAWALPINDI: In a leaked audio that has gone viral on social media, former interior minister Sheikh Rashid could be heard asking a person whether he made a “payment” to persuade PMLN leader Jalil Sharaqpuri to resign from his seat in the Punjab Assembly.

“Did you make the payment to Sharaqpuri?” the AML chief said in the audio, where he could be heard speaking to a person named Gul Zaman. After the audio made the rounds on social media and the ex-interior minister came under fire, he accepted that the audio was, indeed, original and it was his voice, but he said that he was merely “joking” and was “not serious”.

“There was no exchange of money,” Rashid said, according to Geo News. Political tensions have risen in Punjab due to the make-or-break by-elections on 20 hotly-contested constituencies, which will decide who will take the reins of the province.

Despite every seat being necessary for the PML-N to maintain its power in Punjab and Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz’s fate hanging in the balance, Sharaqpuri sent his resignation a day prior to the polls to the Punjab Assembly speaker.

In a video message released after the audio went viral, Sharaqpuri, speaking while taking an “oath”, said that Rashid was a “fraud”. “Sheikh Rashid is Imran Khan’s enemy [...] Sheikh Rashid is spewing lies at the behest of someone,” the PMLN leader said.

In response, Zaman confirmed that he had a conversation with Sh Rashid but noted that he told the former interior minister not to speak about Sharqpuri. “Neither do I know who Jalil Sharqpuri is, nor have I met him,” Zaman said in a statement, adding: “I do not know what Sh Rashid was thinking at that moment.” Distancing himself from the matter, Zaman said that he has a friendship with Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervez Elahi spanning over 25 years.