Govt trying to revive ties with other countries damaged by IK; Denies govt’s role in audio leaks, lambastes ‘fraudster’ Imran
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that by building a deceitful narrative of conspiracy against his government, former premier and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan committed “treason against Pakistan” and its people and inflicted irreparable damage to the country’s reputation.
PM Shehbaz, while referring to an audio leak revealing a conversation between then prime minister Imran Khan and ex-principal secretary Azam Khan about using the classified diplomatic cable for political purposes, said the episode had badly damaged Pakistan’s relations with the friendly countries.
“The audio tells all. Is there any doubt yet as to who hatched the conspiracy? Who are the real conspirators? It was Imran Khan and his cronies,” the prime minister told a press conference flanked by Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday.
He said sans the audio leak, the ambiguity could prevail for years but Allah blessed the nation by exposing Imran Khan’s “fraud, deceit and worst conspiracy” against Pakistan.
He said the coalition government is trying to revive bit-by-bit the ties with other countries damaged by the ex-premier.
“It was the worst dishonesty and played a game with the nation’s confidence and hurt the national integrity. This is unprecedented in the country’s history,” he remarked rubbishing Imran Khan’s allegation of his role behind the audio leak as earlier, his own audio leak had surfaced.
Recalling the process of the vote of no-confidence against Imran Khan and the rejection of the motion by then deputy speaker, the prime minister said that Imran Khan and his party had wasted the nation’s time. “That wicked conspiracy stands exposed without any more ambiguity. For the last four-five years, I have been saying that he [Imran Khan] is the biggest liar doing all just to serve his own interests,” he added.
He told the media that the National Security Committee, in its two leaks, categorically made it clear that the cypher had nothing to do with the conspiracy. “I can swear to God he [Khan] is a fraudster and has tried to create rifts in important institutions of Pakistan,” he said.
The premier began his important presser by narrating the incidents that ensued during the time the no-confidence motion was moved back in April.
“Let’s go back to April 3 when voting was to be held on the no-confidence motion and everybody knows the incidents that took place on that day. But I just want to narrate what exactly happened on that day,” he said.
The premier narrated that the then-deputy speaker of the National Assembly Qasim Suri, who was officiating the proceeding on behalf of then-speaker Asad Qaiser, allowed the infor