Diplomatic cable stolen after fraud, forgery, fabrication, says Pak federal cabinet

Islamabad [Pakistan], October 1 (ANI): As the controversy surrounding the audio leak of top Pakistan leaders refuses to die down, the federal cabinet expressed serious concern over the missing copy of the diplomatic cypher from the PM House record.
The federal cabinet met on Friday with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair. It accused former prime minister Imran Khan of compromising vital national interests for political gains, The Nation newspaper reported.
“Vital national interests were damaged by giving concocted meanings to the diplomatic cypher for political gains and the cable was stolen after fraud, forgery and fabrication,” the federal cabinet noted.
On Friday, the federal cabinet held deliberations on the issue of audio-leaks, featuring PM and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan. It termed it a strong violation of the constitutional oath, and other related laws and regulations, particularly the Official Secret Act.
“It was the act of unpardonable crime against the state through which political interests were given priority over the vital national interests,” the cabinet observed.
Following the series of audio leaks over the last week, the Pakistan Prime Minister’s house was ‘debugged’ this week.
Dawn newspaper reported that a top panel is constituted to probe into the audio leak and has finished combing and debugging the entire premises,
The team was also monitoring employees’ and officers’ mobile phone data and laptops of the PM House and Office.
A series of audio has been leaked over the last week, featuring Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz and former PM Imran Khan.
After this, a new standard operating procedure (SOP) was implemented at the PM House under which no staff or officer was allowed to take their mobile phone inside the building, reported Dawn.
“The phones are collected at the entrance and returned after office hours,” the source added.
Earlier, Imran Khan’s audio leaked where he was heard speaking about the “US conspiracy”. The PTI chief reportedly said, “Let’s play with it”.
It is pertinent to mention that “US conspiracy” refers to the foreign conspiracy which Imran Khan termed as the conspiracy by the US to topple the PTI government and replace it with Shehbaz Sharif’s government.
According to The News International, in the latest leaked audio, Imran Khan could be heard directing his then principal secretary that they should play with the “cypher issue without taking the name of the United States.”
“Let’s play with it,” Imran Khan believed to be said in the audio, to which Azam Khan suggested that they should hold a meeting on the US cypher to bring it on record.
Earlier, audio clips of Shehbaz Sharif with government officials and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz had also surfaced online. (ANI)