Imran writes to SC judges for immediate hearing of audio leaks plea

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has written to Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and other Supreme Court judges, requesting an immediate hearing on his petition related to the audio leaks.

In the letter dated February 19, Khan sought the protection of the fundamental right to privacy of the people under Article 14 of the Constitution.

Referring to the petition he had filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution before the apex court in October last year against the "unauthorised and unverified" audio leaks, Khan complained that the case hadn't been taken up.

He said that the petition also stated that the audio and video clips had "not been verified and appear to be either deep fakes or fabricated, edited, trimmed and joined, pieced together, and cannibalised to present an inaccurate and incorrect portrayal of the alleged conversations that they purport to carry."

Referring to the leaked audio clips from Prime Minister House, Khan said that the PMO is a "highly sensitive state installation where matters of great national sensitivity and importance are discussed."

He said that these "tampered leaks" were to target and silence criticism. "Among others, Senator Azam Swati suffered from the worst kind of invasion of privacy possible. Various ex-public officials, myself included, and even private members of the public have suffered from leaks (or release) of unverified, edited, tampered, pieced together and even fabricated conversations," stated the letter.

The former premier said that the matters have only gotten worse as alleged conversations purportedly involving former chief minister Parvez Elahi and a Supreme Court judge were leaked on social media.

The PTI chief's letter comes after several alleged audios involving party leaders and several others were leaked.

Recently, a purported audio leak between PTI leader Yasmin Rashid and Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ghulam Mahmood Dogar surfaced.

It came a day after the cop's reinstatement by the Supreme Court to the Lahore CCPO's post with the suspension of his transfer orders issued by the Punjab caretaker setup.

Meanwhile, in another instance, an alleged audio of former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi — a close ally of Khan — also surfaced in which he could be heard allegedly talking about managing courts.