By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday accused his predecessor Imran Khan of committing high-level treason by peddling the foreign conspiracy narrative for his ouster in April that inflicted an irreparable damage to the country’s reputation.
Sharif also denied allegations that his government had any involvement in the recent audio leaks that have whipped up a political storm in the country.
Khan has used a diplomatic cypher as the basis to accuse his political opponents of being part of a Washington-backed conspiracy to oust him from power.
The issue once again became a topic of public debate after an emergence of a audio clip online last Friday. In the clip, Khan, his then principal secretary Azam Khan and two top aides, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Asad Umar could be heard strategizing the “foreign conspiracy.”
“He [Khan] has committed treason against the people of Pakistan and has inflicted irreparable damage to Pakistan’s reputation and standing among the comity of nations,” Sharif said in a news conference in Islamabad.
The government has constituted a high-powered committee to probe the recent audio leaks from the PM Office and has termed it a breach of national security.
The prime minister, while referring to the audio conversation between the 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 ambiguity might have prevailed for years but Allah blessed the nation by exposing Imran Khan’s “fraud, deceit and worst conspiracy” against the country,” Sharif said.
“The audio tells all. Is there any doubt yet as who hatched the conspiracy? Who are the real conspirators? Those were Imran Khan and his cronies.”
PM Sharif called Khan a ‘fraudster’ and the ‘biggest liar in the country,’ and vehemently denied the involvement of his government in the embarrassing audio leaks controversy.
“I’m finally saying this today, that the entire opposition has been vindicated by God. And Imran Khan — who lies day and night — is a fraudster, who has isolated the nation and played with it.”
Sharif said the coalition government was trying to revive bit-by-bit the ties with other countries damaged by Khan.
“It was the worst dishonesty, a game played with the nation’s confidence that hurt its integrity. This is unprecedented in the country’s history.”
“That conspiracy stands exposed without any ambiguity. For last five years, I have been saying that he (Khan) is the biggest liar doing all just to serve his own interests,” he commented.
PM Shehbaz said the National Security Committee, in its two meetings, categorically made it clear that the cipher had nothing to do with the conspiracy.
Sharif also spoke about the no-confidence motion on April 3 by then deputy speaker and loyalist of Khan, Qasim Suri.
“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 said Suri allowed the then information minister [Fawad Chaudhry] of that time to speak before the voting began.
He read a statement which mentioned that a conspiracy had been hatched against Khan’s government and termed it a “foreign conspiracy”. “On this, Suri sahab refused to allow the voting process to take place without even taking the Opposition into confidence.”
Sharif added that within no time, Khan appeared on the television screens and announced that he was dissolving the National Assembly. “ Surprisingly, the summary was also passed in 20 minutes.”
“I am not repeating the incidents. I just want to share the link to the entire conspiracy,” he said.
Taking potshots at President Arif Alvi, Sharif said the president, a member of the PTI, who takes weeks to approve summaries, passed the summary regarding the dissolution of assemblies within 20 minutes.
“This was the basis of the conspiracy that Khan has been playing along with for the last five months and wasting the nation’s time,” Sharif added, lamenting that due to his wrongdoings, Pakistan’s relations with the US had been compromised.
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