Imran Khan wants security agencies grilled over audio leaks

ISLAMABAD: PTI Chairman Imran Khan Monday said state secrets have been leaked to the country’s enemies as he claimed that the security line of the Prime Minister’s Office was breached.

Khan’s revelation came after several audio files — involving conversations of the previous and incumbent government officials — were leaked from the Prime Minister’s House.

“The secrets of the state have been leaked to our enemies. There has been a violation of the security line of the Prime Minister’s Office. The security agencies must be questioned about who is responsible for this,” he said during an interview with a private television channel.

Terming the leaks a “massive violation of security”, the PTI chairman said the prime minister — given his position — talks about the state’s secrets and now, “all those things have been leaked to our enemies”.

Khan claimed that an “audio tape” of the conversations was recorded at the PM’s House, adding that not only the tapes recorded during his tenure were leaked but audios of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have also been leaked.

“Our intelligence agencies should think about what they are engaging themselves in. They are making people feel threatened,” he said, telling them that “political engineering” was not in their job description and that they were tasked to keep the country safe.

The former prime minister also recalled that his residence’s security line was also breached and the conversation of his wife, Bushra Begum, was leaked as well — where she could be heard speaking to PTI leader Arslan Khalid.

Imran Khan said that Editor Investigations of The News Ansar Abbasi long ago said that an audio of his (Imran) conversation with Azam Khan was leaked. The secured lines of Prime Minister House have been taped. It is a security breach. The security agencies must have accountable for these audio leaks. “Our security agencies are threatening the people through phone calls, it is a political engineering,” he said.

Earlier in November, 2020, when the PTI was in power, former prime minister and PTI Chairperson Imran Khan had justified phone tapping of politicians by the intelligence agencies, saying the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) listen to all his telephonic conversations and this is exactly how it should be. “ISI, which is the world’s most outstanding agency, listens to everything I say [over the phone],” he had said.