Imran Khan urges judiciary to take notice of tapping phones, audio leaks

LAHORE: Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has urged the judiciary to notice of tapping phones and audio leaks, terming them a violation of basic human rights, ARY News reported on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference along with PTI leader Yasmin Rashid, the former premier castigated the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government over the recent audio leak of former Punjab health minister, saying that these people were using audio tapes to achieve political goals.

Speaking of Yasmin Rashid’s audio, Imran Khan said that every citizen has the rights to speak to the police, adding that such audios were being leaked to remove Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ghulam Dogar.

He pointed out that tapping anyone’s phone was a violation of Constitution and law, adding that permission of Interior Ministry and court was required for tapping phone.

He regretted that his phone was tapped when he was the Prime Minister of Pakistan, saying that his conversation with former principal secretary Azam Khan was edited and released.

Imran Khan urged the judiciary to take notice of the phone tapping and audio leak, terming the act a violation of human rights. The PTI chief also alleged that the phones were being tapped to blackmail the judiciary.

Read More: Yasmin Rashid to move court against ‘audio leak’

A day earlier, another audio recording, purportedly that of former Punjab health minister Dr Yasmin Rashid and former Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ghulam Mahmood Dogar, who was recently reinstated by Supreme Court (SC) was emerged.

In the audio clip, available with ARY News, the former Punjab minister can allegedly be heard talking about reinstatement orders with CCPO Lahore Dogar.

The audio leak comes a day after the Supreme Court reinstated Ghulam Mahmood Dogar as the CCPO after suspending his transfer order made by Mohsin Naqvi led interim Punjab govt.

“Imran Khan is concerned about your reinstatement,” a woman, believed to be Yasmin Rashid, can be heard speaking to another person believed to be CCPO Lahore. “I had told Khan sahab that orders were yet not received,” she said in a telephonic conversation.

In the alleged clip, the person believed to be Ghulam Dogar, flagged signatures of judges on post carrying orders as the reason behind the delay. The man assures the woman that he had his man [sitting] at the apex court.

It is pertinent to mention here that Dogar, as the Lahore CCPO was at the centre of a tussle between the federal government and the then-Punjab government under Chaudhry Parvez Elahi last year.