Another PMO audio leak surfaces, allegedly of Shehbaz discussing SAPM appointments

A freshly leaked audio recording linked to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) emerged on Thursday, allegedly of Premier Shehbaz Sharif discussing the appointment of his special assistants.

In the most recent soundbite, an unidentified person is presumably telling the premier that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ayaz Sadiq had said that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was asking for a share in the selected special assistants to the prime minister (SAPM).

A second voice, purportedly that of PM Shehbaz, replies that PPP co-chair Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had talked to him about the matter.

The first person responds by saying, “we have to appoint Zafar Mahmood and Jahanzaib saheb.”

“I will tell you the final number today, sir,” he adds.

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In response, the supposed voice of Shehbaz can be heard asking the person to “share the document”.

“It’s not just the Peoples Party. There are others,” he says.

The unidentified man claims that the “JUI and MQM will ask for it too”.

“In the MQM there is a man named Malik Ahmed Ali. They are saying he had a critical role in reaching a deal with them,” he adds.

The alleged voice of the premier asks who he is talking about, to which the first voice states that “Ali is from Karachi”.

'No agency involved'

Last week, Federal Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah convincingly ruled out the involvement of any internal or external agencies in the cyber security breach at the PMO that led to audio leaks.

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As the ongoing “cypher imbroglio” deepened in the country in the aftermath of recent audio leaks, the interior minister completely eliminated spy or any other agencies’ role in the audio leaks and pointed fingers at individuals.

“There is nothing to hide; neither any internal nor any external agency is involved in it; I’m categorically saying that no hostile or internal agency is involved in this,” the minister said in a press conference while responding to a question about agencies’ possible involvement in recording and leaking the audio recordings with frequent intervals.

Sanaullah said that “things are pointing towards individuals,” saying that technology has reached an extent where any individual could record and hacking a telephone was no more a big deal.