The bugged office

A number of tapes from the PM office are doing the rounds on social media and television networks

Audio and video leaks as well as scandalising features are the order of the day. Hardly is there any respite from it, and the so-called leaks and revelations often end up in thin air. The reasons are many: some are not worthy to stand the test of time, and others wither away as they are primarily meant to distract attention. But the plethora of audio leaks that have recently emancipated from the Prime Minister Office are worth-pondering, and serious in essence. A number of tapes that are doing the rounds on social media and television networks are purportedly of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif himself in conversation with his aides and cabinet colleagues. Moreover, Maryam Nawaz is also featured in some of the tapes wherein she is allegedly heard mulling and maneuvering the senior official(s) for some import provisions, probably from India. These are more than enough to create a storm at a time when the coalition government, led by the PML-N, is in a tight corner, and the opposition is out to name and shame it.

The audio posts, nonetheless, pose several harsh questions, and the most significant among them is as to how and who breached the security of the highest executive office in the country. This could not have been done without a formal plan, and it is tantamount to a conspiracy — and one that could have serious consequences. Notwithstanding the content of the discussion in the leaked tapes, what is more worrisome is the espionage that was done, and what kind of technical cobbling was engaged to record the privy conversations. It must be investigated at the highest level, and culprits and abettors brought to book forthwith. The opposition, under former prime minister Imran Khan, is also in a shock and awe as to how tapes to the magnitude of hundreds of giga-bites are so clandestinely recorded over a sustained period of time. The political ploy to discredit the government over their content and conduct is of secondary nature.

It is said that either the conversation was recorded through bugging devices or through a software that is in use at the Prime Minister Office’s communication network. Whatever may be the case, it is a threat to national security and compromises the sovereignty of the government and the state. Apart from identifying the black sheep, what is desired is that the government and the opposition unite on a single point to probe this fiasco. It is directly related to their business of being in public service, and that too on a credible note.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2022.

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