Audio leaks or collapse of state institutions?
THE recent series of leaks from taped telephonic conversations originating from the office of the Prime Minister has raised some valid and serious questions about the state of security in our highest offices.
These leaks are not only from telephonic conversations but also from dialogue between important state officials at the highest levels of government from inside the Prime Minister’s Secretariat in Islamabad.
This blatant breach of state security and the miserable state of cyber security at the highest levels of government can be described as “Leakgate” and can be an example of a country and nation in a state of serious crisis and this leaked information about top secret conversations between top office holders of our country is a sad state of our national politics.
It appears as if the entire edifice of state institutions is unravelling at the seams and the day is not far when the country will be plunged into a dangerous or possibly fatal state of chaos, anarchy and disaster.
Who is behind this sinister game of taping and leaking telephonic conversations? All the state agencies responsible for security are silent about this and so far no individual or party has been identified responsible for this breach of national security.
The leaked conversations have just exposed the state of national politics and brought to the fore the shameful game being played on the political stage of the country.
It has become clear that our top politicians are engaged in a game of selfish self-interests, personal gains and they are totally incapable of looking beyond the tip of their nose.
Supporters and followers of political parties are nothing but pawns in this sordid game to be used and then thrown away after being used.
According to some posts on social media what we have seen so far is just the beginning and the hackers responsible for these leaks are now promising many more leaks that will be the bombshells in this continuous sordid saga of our national politics and the game goes on.
The most alarming and mysterious are the audiotapes of the conversation between the then PM Imran Khan and his Principal Secretary and the talk about the cypher issue with Federal Ministers, the very cypher that the Chairman of the PTI used as proof of a foreign conspiracy created by the USA that resulted in the fall of the Imran Khan Govt.
This leaked conversation has once again confirmed the truth that this ploy was nothing but a clever manipulation of the cypher to invent the theory of a foreign conspiracy to garner public support and present the PTI and Imran Khan as an innocent victim of an international conspiracy.
Both the top political parties that is the PTI and the PMLN have not contradicted the truth of the conversations exposed by the leaked tapes.
Both parties are now trying to use these leaks as political weapons in the ongoing game of power struggle and their attempts to win public support in the coming general election.
These audio leaks are a confirmation of the sad truth of how national interests are overlooked and sacrificed at the altar of personal interests, greed and power politics.
Mr. Khan has very cleverly managed to spin his concocted story of international conspiracies and this has been supported by the spin doctors of the PTI and their followers in the national media.
They have definitely succeeded in galvanizing public support and increasing their street power but their irresponsible behaviour has definitely damaged the overall national interests.
The Shehbaz Government has now weaponized the cypher issue to hit back at Imran Khan and has initiated a comprehensive inquiry into the audio leaks along with starting legal proceedings against Imran Khan for the missing cypher which mysteriously disappeared from the PM office.
Maryam Nawaz has criticized her own party and government for not taking action against Imran Khan and has demanded that the residence of the former PM be raided and searched for the missing document.
Any police action against the former Prime Minister will definitely result in a severe backlash and add fuel to the raging fires of the political scenario.
The present coalition government of many parties is a very weak association of different political interests and they are in no position to initiate such dangerous political adventures in the country.
Along with the audio leaks the political soap opera in the country continues unabated. The audio leaks have exposed the dirty power politics and total lack of any thought about national interests.
—The writer is Professor of History, based in Islamabad.
