After an audio recording of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders leaked two days ago, another recording emerged on Friday, an alleged extension of the last leak wherein former prime minister Imran Khan and others are allegedly discussing the diplomatic cypher.
The 1.09-minute long audio emerged on social media and features a conversation supposedly between Imran Khan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar and Azam Khan about the cypher-related “foreign conspiracy” to remove the then premier from power.
The former premier’s voice can be heard, apparently stating that “we have to hold a meeting tomorrow, you and the three of us (Imran, Qureshi and Azam Khan) and the foreign secretary”. The voice, believed to be of Imran Khan’s, furthered that “In the meeting, we have to quietly tell them to write the minutes of the meeting”, adding that Azam Khan had said that the meeting minutes should be drafted and photocopied. The second voice, supposedly of Azam Khan, asks if “this cypher arrived on the 7th or 8th,” before saying that “it came on the 8th”. Imran Khan allegedly replies that the meeting was held on the 7th.
The ostensible voice of the PTI chief constantly reiterates that “under no circumstances” should the country where the conspiracy emerged from be named. “So on this issue please, the country’s name should not be spoken by anyone. This is very important”, he can be heard saying. He emphasised that “the country the letter came from, I don’t want to hear the name from anyone”. A voice reportedly of Asad Umar then asks if Imran was calling it a letter “deliberately”. “This is not [a] letter, it is the meeting’s transcript,” Asad can be heard saying.
The voice attributed to Imran’s replies that the letter and the transcript were “the same thing”. “People wouldn’t understand transcript. You say things like this in your jalsa.” A 1.43-minute audio clip appeared on social media earlier – allegedly leaked by a hacker – purportedly revealing a conversation between the former prime minister and his principal secretary about using the classified diplomatic cable for political purposes.
