Audio leaks issue: PM calls NSC meeting tomorrow

Government forms joint investigation team (JIT) to probe hacking of data from PM House

By Ayaz Akbar Yousafzai & Azaz Syed

September 27, 2022

Civil-military leadership of the country attend the National Security Committee meeting on Friday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. — Twitter/ PMs Office — Civil-military leadership of the country attend the National Security Committee meeting on Friday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. — Twitter/ PM's Office

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has convened a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) over the issue of secret recordings of the Prime Minister House and other important offices.

According to sources, the PM has convened the NSC meeting in the PM House on Wednesday (tomorrow), which would be attended by the defence minister, interior minister, foreign minister and finance minister as well as the military chiefs. Heads of country’s top spy agencies, including Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) would brief the NSC on the issue of secret recordings of the PM House.

Meanwhile, the government has formed a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the hacking of data from the PM House. The sources said that the matter is being probed at a high level as the JIT would include one member each from the secret agencies.

The sources said that the JIT would probe how the IT data was hacked, adding that the investigation team would have the authority to grill the PM House staff. The sources further said that the JIT would investigate whether the secret devices were installed in the PM House or the recordings were made through the mobile phone as well as probe which officers were present in the PM House when the incident happened.

The sources said that the JIT would also grill the special branch officers deployed at the PM Secretariat as well as restrict the movement of the staff deployed at the PM House. It is pertinent to mention that two days ago, audio tapes of conversation during a meeting in the PM House have surfaced, which have raised questions over the PM House security.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has said that the matter is being probed and it would only be known after the probe whether the PM House’s security was breached or not. He said the matter, however, should not be taken seriously.