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Imran Khan aides say Bushra Bibi ‘treason’ clip a storm in teacup. Shehbaz govt wants probe

New Delhi: Imran Khan is out of power but not out of Pakistan’s news cycle. And this time, it’s his wife Bushra Bibi and a leaked audio tape that has put the former prime minister in the dock, giving his detractors and the political opposition another opportunity to attack.

In the alleged audio clip that was leaked on social media, the former first lady can be heard asking Dr Arsalan Khalid, Focal Person to PTI Chairman on Digital Media, to spread a “narrative of treason”. The two-minute-long audio clip shows Bushra expressing her disappointment at Khalid for the PTI’s inactivity on social media. She then asks him to run the hashtag ‘traitor’ on social media and link people criticising her and the former PM to ‘treason’.

Now, the Federal Minister for Defence Affairs of Pakistan, Khawaja Asif has proposed that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) can file a petition in the court and send the audio clip for forensic testing to verify its legitimacy.

Bushra can be heard saying, “Aleem Khan (PTI) and co. will be speaking as per their plan. You should link them with treason. You have to raise [threat] letter [issue] on social media and say that we know the letter is authentic.”

She can also be heard instructing Khalid to create a narrative surrounding all PTI dissidents, saying that they joined foreign conspirators.


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The PTI chairman on Digital Media has rejected the audio clip, calling it “fictitious” and saying that the public did not care for such “fabricated videos”. “Recording thousands of calls, editing voices to turn them into custom phone calls and then disseminating them through lifafas — a term used by PTI for journalists critical of its policies — is this the only thing left [to do] now?” Dr Khalid added.

Defence minister Khawaja Asif has accused Imran Khan of attacking the country’s institutions as he has been deprived of power. Speaking on the Geo News programme Naya Pakistan, he said Khan should be ashamed of blaming the institutions. He also said the former PM is fulfilling India’s agenda to weaken Pakistan’s nuclear programme. “He [Khan] can neither be loyal to the soil nor anybody else as he isn’t loyal to his own blood,” Asif said to The Daily Times.

Action should be taken against Imran Khan under Article 6 if the requirements are met, said Khawaja Asif.

Several of Imran Khan’s supporters have come out in support of the couple.

Shahbaz Gill, Imran Khan’s Chief of Staff, called the audio fake and ensured that it would be exposed during a press conference in Islamabad on Sunday. He alleged that an “organised campaign” was being run against the former premier and his wife. The PTI leader also warned members of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) that if their video and audio clips were made public, they would not be able to “show their faces” and criticised the party for its “derogatory remarks” against Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa in the past.

Fayyaz-ul-Hassan Chohan, media adviser to the former PM, has accused the Shehbaz Sharif government of trying to mislead the public by using such fake audios. He said, “It is trying to create a storm in a teacup through the audio but it would fail to malign Imran Khan.”


Source: The Print

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