‘Tis the season of leak – except there’s nothing festive about it. Pakistanis have been given involuntary access to closed-door and hitherto private conversations, most of which, at least until now, seemed to take place inside the prime minister’s office, the place of business of the country’s top elected chief executive. are This is no less than a grave breach and a national security incident.
The most important questions are how this conversation was recorded and by whom and why and how did it become public or leaked on social media? Given the nature of the crisis, nothing less than razor-sharp attention and priority was expected from those responsible in finding clear and reasoned answers to these questions. Instead, it announced the ‘approval’ of setting up a ‘high-level’ committee to ‘investigate’ the audio leaks and directed the Law Ministry to “develop a legal framework on cyber security”.
This ‘approval’ comes from none other than the country’s main body charged with ‘national security decision-making’ – the National Security Committee (NSC) headed by the Prime Minister. Which includes important federal ministers as well as high officials. members of the armed forces. If the seriousness of the matter was not at hand, the answer would have been laughable.
It is surprising that the federal government has not blamed any foreign hand in the illegal bugging of the Prime Minister’s House – which has apparently been going on for a long time. In fact, no one has been charged and no potential suspects have been named or identified.
Instead, those in the government have focused on defending themselves by saying that the prime minister’s meetings with his cabinet colleagues or his meeting with an officer over the import of machinery from India for Ms Maryam Nawaz. Nothing illegal has happened in the audio leaks of the conversation. Sharif’s son-in-law. Such clarifications have inadvertently confirmed the content of the leaked audios and are a kind of acceptance of the illegal practice of bugging the PM’s office. At times, it seems that even the Prime Minister is enjoying some of the leaks that he thinks are good in principle.
As for the formation of a committee to probe it, the statements of a high-ranking official like the prime minister whose audio has been leaked are quite ambiguous. Prime Minister Sharif said it was a “very serious mistake”. “Now who will trust the Prime Minister to come to the Prime Minister’s Office to talk to him”, he questioned, leaving it to “the respect of the 220 million people of Pakistan”. No deep anger, no guilt and no solution!
Although Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s statement on this issue is correct, it is not clear why a Prime Minister needs to raise the question when he is the only one who has the power to find answers and bring the culprits to book. has authority and indeed responsibility. the account.
Perhaps the clearest stand on the audio leaks has come from our Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who said that whoever the Prime Minister of Pakistan is, he protests and strongly condemns the practice of bugging the Prime Minister’s office.
In response to a question in a TV interview given to VOA, Mr. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari used the following words: “Intelligence agencies have corrupted offices in Pakistan and America. It is right to the extent that these [tapes] ] with these institutions. But especially when it comes to the position of the Prime Minister, whether it is Prime Minister Imran Khan or Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, I want to express strong reservations [and] condemn it. A question of national security has arisen which needs to be answered. I know that the Prime Minister has ordered some kind of inquiry and I am waiting for its outcome. But this [the corruption of the Prime Minister’s Office] is good. Action is not. It is not about Imran or Shehbaz.
This is not the first time that the issue of illegal bugging has been highlighted in public. Another state institution, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, has on more than one occasion raised this concern in the strongest terms. In July 2007, while hearing a presidential reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, thirteen (13) honorable judges suspended Advocate on Record for providing ‘defamatory’ material against the Chief Justice and judges.
The Supreme Court bench at that time also issued an order banning unauthorized access of intelligence operatives inside the Supreme Court offices, and directed the Director General of the Intelligence Bureau to inspect the Supreme Court offices and residences of judges. Sweep the premises for bugging devices and submit an affidavit that all premises are present. Cleared of bugging gadgets within a week.
