ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s interior minister Rana Sanaullah said on Monday the government had identified suspects behind recent audio leaks from the Prime Minister Office while denying involvement of any “hostile agency.”
Several audio recordings of conversations among key government functionaries were leaked online from the PM Office last month.
In response, the government constituted a high-level committee on September 30 to investigate the matter while describing it as a “major lapse.”
The committee was also responsible to review the cybersecurity of the PM Office and other sensitive government installations.
Its members are expected to finalize their report on the cyber and electronic security of government building in the coming week.
“I can say this with full confidence that [the leaks] involved a few individuals,” the minister said during his interview with Geo News wherein he also dismissed the involvement of hostile agencies.
Without divulging further information, Sanaullah said the persons behind the leaks had been “identified.”
“Those people include individuals working at the Prime Minister Office,” he continued. “It is not possible for a stranger to reach [the building].”
Last week, two leaked audio recordings in a single day put a spotlight on political intrigues at the PM Office during the term of now ousted premier Imran Khan, with one raising questions about his involvement in political horse-trading and the other about the truth to his allegations that he was removed from office in a foreign conspiracy.
The ousted PM said in a Twitter post on Monday the audio leaks constituted a serious breach of national security since they called into question the security of the PM House and Office.
“As PM my secure line at my residence was also bugged,” he said. “We intend to go to Court to [establish the] authenticity of [the] Leaks & then form [a joint investigation team] to investigate which [intelligence] agency is responsible for the bugging & who is leaking out the audios many of which are edited/doctored.”
Khan was removed from the office in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence, which he blamed, and continues to blame, on a conspiracy hatched by the United States with Khan’s rivals in Pakistan, including current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Both deny the charge but Khan has held rallies across the country since, sticking to the theory of a foreign conspiracy and challenging the mandate of the Sharif administration.
