PTV storming: Leaked audio tape triggers political firestorm
In purported phone conversation with Alvi, Imran appreciates storming of PTV HQ
In purported phone conversation with Alvi, Imran appreciates storming of PTV HQ
ISLAMABAD:
An audio-tape of a purported telephonic conversation between Imran Khan and his party colleague Dr Arif Alvi surfaced on Friday in which the PTI chief is heard praising last year’s ransacking of the PTV headquarters.
The audiotape was leaked just three days after the prime minister gave the nod to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s longstanding demand of forming a judicial commission to investigate rigging in the May 2013 election.
In September last year, angry protesters of the PTI and Tahirul Qadri-led Pakistan Awami Tehreek had stormed the headquarters of the state-owned broadcast giant and forced its transmission off-air.
“Good, good... this will put pressure on Nawaz Sharif to resign,” Imran is heard as saying on the audiotape when Alvi informed him about the attack on PTV. He then urges Alvi to mount more pressure as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government “deserved the attack”. “You have to put maximum pressure today,” Imran adds, “it is all a question of coercing the prime minister to step down before the joint session.”
Then Alvi tells his chief that he has invited the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to join the protest. Imran advises him in return that he should again try to contact the MQM, on which Alvi says the party would respond after contacting Altaf Hussain.
In his public statements on media and even in his speeches, the PTI chief has always disowned the attack on the PTV headquarters and blamed the PML-N for conspiring against his peaceful protest by “staging” such attacks.
The audiotape, whose authenticity has still not been determined, not only exposes the conversation between the PTI leaders, but also raises the question of who is behind the recordings of private conversations of politicians.
Commenting on the leaked audio, PTI leader Alvi admitted the voices in the conversation were genuine, but it seemed they had been joined from different conversations. “My voice and Imran Khan’s voice seems genuine. Different words and conversations spliced together. I am a staunch supporter of privacy. I never record calls,” Alvi posted on the micro-blogging website Twitter.
He also tweeted that even to splice a conversation and to mix and match somebody’s voice was without legal authority.
Imran, however, expressed ignorance about the leaked conversation. “I haven’t heard any [audio]tape. But it is a crime to record conversations,” he said, adding that whatever he may have said would not have been wrong.
“I have not listened to the audio-tape, but I am sure that I have not said anything, which could reflect to kill someone and dump [him] in a bag and send money to London,” an apparently nervous Imran told the media in Lahore while taking a jab at Altaf Hussain.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th, 2015.
An audio-tape of a purported telephonic conversation between Imran Khan and his party colleague Dr Arif Alvi surfaced on Friday in which the PTI chief is heard praising last year’s ransacking of the PTV headquarters.
The audiotape was leaked just three days after the prime minister gave the nod to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s longstanding demand of forming a judicial commission to investigate rigging in the May 2013 election.
In September last year, angry protesters of the PTI and Tahirul Qadri-led Pakistan Awami Tehreek had stormed the headquarters of the state-owned broadcast giant and forced its transmission off-air.
“Good, good... this will put pressure on Nawaz Sharif to resign,” Imran is heard as saying on the audiotape when Alvi informed him about the attack on PTV. He then urges Alvi to mount more pressure as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government “deserved the attack”. “You have to put maximum pressure today,” Imran adds, “it is all a question of coercing the prime minister to step down before the joint session.”
Then Alvi tells his chief that he has invited the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to join the protest. Imran advises him in return that he should again try to contact the MQM, on which Alvi says the party would respond after contacting Altaf Hussain.
In his public statements on media and even in his speeches, the PTI chief has always disowned the attack on the PTV headquarters and blamed the PML-N for conspiring against his peaceful protest by “staging” such attacks.
The audiotape, whose authenticity has still not been determined, not only exposes the conversation between the PTI leaders, but also raises the question of who is behind the recordings of private conversations of politicians.
Commenting on the leaked audio, PTI leader Alvi admitted the voices in the conversation were genuine, but it seemed they had been joined from different conversations. “My voice and Imran Khan’s voice seems genuine. Different words and conversations spliced together. I am a staunch supporter of privacy. I never record calls,” Alvi posted on the micro-blogging website Twitter.
He also tweeted that even to splice a conversation and to mix and match somebody’s voice was without legal authority.
Imran, however, expressed ignorance about the leaked conversation. “I haven’t heard any [audio]tape. But it is a crime to record conversations,” he said, adding that whatever he may have said would not have been wrong.
“I have not listened to the audio-tape, but I am sure that I have not said anything, which could reflect to kill someone and dump [him] in a bag and send money to London,” an apparently nervous Imran told the media in Lahore while taking a jab at Altaf Hussain.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th, 2015.