Saturday, 8 October, 2022 I 11 Rabi ul Awwal, 1444 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XIII No 100 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
New leaks expose pTI chIef’s plaNs oN ‘horse TradINg, playINg up’ cIpher IN publIc g
AUdIO REvEALS IMRAN PURPORTEdLy PRESSES PARTy LEAdERS TO ‘SPOON-FEEd’ PEOPLE AS THEIR MINdS ARE ‘FERTILE gROUNdS’
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A LEAKEd RECORdINg — SOUNdINg LIKE IMRAN’S — dISCUSSINg ‘bUyINg FIvE’ ANd ‘NUMbERS gAME’
Govt seeks 90-day delay in by-elections citing PTI’s plan to ‘besiege’ capital ISLAMABAD staff report
ISLAMABAD
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staff report
Ew alleged audios of former prime minister Imran Khan were leaked to social media on Friday, the latest in a series of recordings purportedly featuring the PTI chief talking about “horse trading” and the cipher with PTI leaders Shireen Mazari and Asad Umar. The second audio — slightly longer than a minute — is the second that was released in a day featuring the PTI chairman. In a public meeting Friday afternoon, Imran claimed the PML-N was behind a “new game of fake audios”. In the latest clip, the PTI trio are discussing the cipher and allegedly strategising on how to “play it up in the public”. At the start of the audio, the voice believed to be of Umar is heard saying: “Another point is in hindsight that whatever we are doing now should have been done at least ten days ago.” “The impact of this letter is far-reaching and it has reached all over the world,” Imran allegedly responds. Another voice, believed to be of Mazari interrupts, saying, “The Chinese even have issued an official statement condemning the US intervention in the internal affairs of Pakistan.”
Imran then allegedly details the strategy, saying “the public is with us and we must ensure that the pressure must be at such a height that whoever goes to the assembly for voting must be branded for life and you have to brand them as Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq”. The PTI chief then purportedly presses his party leaders to “spoon-feed people as their minds are currently fertile grounds”. Earlier in the day, an audio recording leaked of a voice — sounding like Imran’s — discussing “buying five” and “numbers game”. “you have a misunderstanding that now the number game is complete […] don’t think this is over.” “you see, 48 hours is a long, long time. big things are happening. I am making my own moves that we can’t make public,” Imran purportedly says in the 54-second clip. The PTI chief allegedly goes on to say that he “is buying five”. “I have given the message that those five are very important. And tell them that if they secure these five […] and if he secures 10, then the game will be in our hands. The nation at this moment is alarmed. Across the board, people want us to win somehow. “Hence, don’t worry about whether this is right or wrong […] even if they break one, it would create a huge difference,” the
voice, believed to be Imran’s, adds. The audio clips released on Friday raise the number of clips allegedly featuring the PTI chairman to four. Of the four clips, three centre on the cipher, and one on alleged horsetrading. Last week, an audio clip purportedly revealed a conversation between Imran and then principal secretary Azam Khan about the cipher — shared by Asad Majeed, the then envoy to the US — which Imran has used to peddle his foreign conspiracy narrative. In the clip, the former prime minister allegedly tells Azam to “play up” the cipher and turn it into a foreign plot to oust his government but adds that there is no need to name any country. A day later, another clip surfaced — supposedly a continuation of the conversation in the previous recording — purportedly featuring PTI leaders Asad Umar and Shah Mahmood Qureshi discussing the “foreign conspiracy” cipher with the former premier and ex-principal secretary. On Friday PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry did not disavow the contents of the latest audio clip but said that “everyone knows where and how the audios are being made”. In a tweet, the former minister asked: “by joining voices such as these will you prove NRO 2 to be valid?”
The federal government Friday asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to delay the upcoming October 16 by-election, saying that a “political party” was planning to “besiege” the capital later this month. The by-elections were originally scheduled to be held during September, but the ECP put them off, citing the unavailability of security personnel in the wake of catastrophic floods — that have left over 1,700 dead. “On the basis of credible reports from Intelligence Agencies, it has transpired that a political party is planning to besiege the federal capital between October 12-17 […] which coincides with the [election] date,” a letter from the Interior Ministry to the ECP said in an apparent reference to the PTI. PTI Chairman Imran Khan has announced holding his “Azadi March” in the capital and has started mobilising his party. The ex-prime minister has held several meetings and organised rallies at different points in the country in the lead-up to the march. In light of the intelligence reports, the Interior Ministry said it was crucial to have all the available resources in the capital in order to maintain peace. Citing other reasons, the min-
istry said that calling in the forces to ensure security during the byelections — which will take place simultaneously in different cities across Pakistan — would put a “strain” on them. The letter mentioned that the Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps, Rangers, and other LEAs were busy in flood-relief works in coordination with the national and provincial disaster management authorities. It also told the commission that, in case, the elections were conducted under the given circumstances — whereby security forces might be less than required and a political party was holding a rally — it would raise questions on the credibility of the polls. The elections were scheduled to take place in eight constituencies — NA-22 Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda, NA-31 Peshawar, NA45 Kurram, NA-108 Faisalabad, NA-118 Nankana Sahib, NA-237 Malir and NA-239 Karachi. The ECP announced October 16 as the date for the byelections after eight National Assembly seats were vacated following the acceptance of PTI MNAs’ resignations. The ECP has directed the Sindh government to hold local body elections in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions after the province sought postponement for the third time citing a lack of security personnel.
Mystery shrouds ‘arrest’ of Senator Saifullah Nyazee from Parliament House ISLAMABAD staff report
In an interesting development on Friday Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah claimed that PTI Senator Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee had been taken into “protective custody” in the foreign funding case but the FIA was quick to deny it had arrested the PTI Senator. Addressing a press conference, Rana Sanaullah said that Senator Saifullah Nyazee had not been appearing for investigation in foreign funding case and now he had been taken into “protective custody” so that he could be formally questioned. He said legal procedure would be followed for the arrest of PTI Senator if required at a later stage. He said that PTI member Hamid Zaman had been also taken into protective custody in the foreign funding case. It is important to mention that media reports said Nyazee
had been arrested from the premises of the Parliament House without seeking approval from Chairman Senate which is illegal and a violation of the supremacy of the Parliament. FIA DENIES REPORTS OF PTI SENATOR SAIFULLAH NYAZEE’S ARREST: Meanwhile, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Friday denied arresting Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Senator Saifullah Nyazee from Islamabad. The news regarding Saifullah Nyazee’s arrest from the Senate of Pakistan premises is ‘baseless’, the FIA said in its reaction. According to sources, reason behind the senator’s arrest could be the website launched by the PTI leader for fundraising. Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders including Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry, Murad Saeed and others alleged that Saifullah Nyazee had been ‘picked up’ from the Senate premises. Former information minister Fawad
Chaudhry urged Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani to take notice of the matter. SENATE COMMITTEE SEEKS REPORT WITHIN 3 HRS ON CUSTODY OF NYAZEE: The Senate Standing Committee on Interior on Friday took notice of the arrest of PTI Senator Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee and sought report on the mysterious arrest of the member of the Parliament from Interior Ministry within 30 minutes. The Islamabad commissioner initially reported that the member parliament is in the custody of the FIA. However, the FIA through an official statement confirmed that the member parliament is not under any detainment by the FIA. The special secretary after resumption of the meeting also refuted the statement of the member parliament in the custody of the FIA he further said that officially no agency has taken up the responsibility of the custody of Senator Saifullah Khan Nyazee. The special secretary also apprised the committee
that he was not able to contact the Minister and seek information on the same. The committee severely condemned the unprecedented arrest of the honorable member of the Parlia-
ment from the Parliament building and rebuked the non-seriousness and inefficient working of the Ministry on the same.
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