Defence Minister Khawaja Asif reacted to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s second audio leak in which the leader can be heard directing his party members not to name the United States (US) in the cipher matter.
The minister, who is currently in London, told the media that it is an “Ideal case” of Article 6 of the Constitution, which deals with high treason.
“He [Imran Khan] should listen to the clips himself and feel shame on how he has put Pakistan’s integrity at stake in his lust for power,” Asif said, lashing out at Imran.
“In Pakistan’s 75-year history, no politician has put Pakistan’s security at risk,” said Asif. He admitted that politicians and army officials have done things against each other and made mistakes but no one has done a “forgery” like the PTI leader.
“In the audio, he is saying do not take America’s name but at the same time is talking against it. I cannot even imagine that a politician can be this shameful,” added the minister.
Referring to Khan’s alleged insistence in the audio leak on using the word “letter” instead of cipher because “people wouldn’t have understood the word transcript”, Asif said the “PTI chief had underestimated the nation’s collective wisdom and will pay the price.”
Audio leak:
In the second audio leak, Imran Khan when he was Prime Minister (PM) is directing his close aides not to take America’s name while talking about the US cipher in public.
“We don’t have to name the Americans. Under no circumstances do we have to take the name. So, on this issue please, the name of the country should not come out of anyone.”
In turn, the voice, supposedly belonging to Asad Umar, raised a question: “Are you saying letter deliberately? This is not a letter, it is the meeting’s transcript.”
On this, Imran Khan says that both the letter and the transcript are “the same thing”. He added that “People wouldn’t have understood the word transcript if you say things like this in your jalsa.”
In the first audio leak that surfaced a couple of days ago, the PTI chief directed his then-principal secretary Azam Khan that, “We have to play with it [cipher]”.
On the same day, when the first audio leak came out Khan broke his silence on it and said that he has not played on the cipher yet.
