Shehbaz Sharif calls PTI chief ‘a fraud’ n Clarifies his govt has no role in audio leaks; investigations to be made public n Says Imran committed treason against Pakistan; inflicted irreparable damage to Pak-US
relations n Coalition govt stands vindicated in its stance: PM.

ISLAMABAD   -   Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Thursday that investigations into recent audio leaks would be carried out transparently and made public accordingly.

While addressing a news con­ference, he said the relevant de­partments are conducting inves­tigations as per the law. Shehbaz Sharif said the audio leaks re­garding Cipher exposed the true face of PTI Chairman Imran Khan before the nation. 

“Finally, I am saying this today that the entire opposition has been vindicated by God. And Im­ran Khan, who tells lies day and night, is a fraudster […] he had isolated the nation and played with it. He attacked the army and tried to create divisions.”

Strongly criticising the PTI Chairman, Shehbaz Sharif re­gretted that baseless allegations were made against our constitu­tional struggle. He also made it clear that the government has no role in the audio leaks. He said federal and provincial gov­ernments as well as other insti­tutions are strenuously work­ing to extend relief to the flood victims. He however regretted that the PTI Chairman is try­ing to create hurdles in the way of assistance pouring in from abroad. Responding to a ques­tion, the Prime Minister said Is­lamabad High Court has given clean chit to Maryam Nawaz on merit. He said Maryam Nawaz appeared before the courts for four years and also faced im­prisonment with Nawaz Sharif.

Also, Prime Minister Sheh­baz Sharif Thursday accused Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan of com­mitting treason against Paki­stan and the Pakistani nation and stated that action would be taken against him in the light of the investigations. 

“ Imran Khan played a hei­nous game by building a deceit­ful narrative of cipher conspira­cy against his own government, and inflicted irreparable dam­age to Pakistan’s reputation and integrity and its relations with the United States “, Shehbaz Sharif said this while addressing a press conference at PM house on Thursday. Minister for Infor­mation Marriyum Aurangzeb, Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal and PM’s Special Assistant Ahad Cheema were also present on this occasion. 

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said after the Election Commis­sion of Pakistan decision on for­eign funding case, Imran Khan is no more Sadiq and Ameen un­der the Constitution of Pakistan.

On PTI long march, PM made it clear that no one would be al­lowed to take law into his hand and asked KPK and Punjab gov­ernments not to become part of PTI long march.

While referring to an audio leak about a conversation be­tween the then prime minis­ter Imran Khan and ex-princi­pal secretary Azam Khan about using the classified diplomatic cable for political purposes, the PM said they played the game for political point scoring but it bad­ly damaged Pakistan’s relations with the friendly countries.

He said sans the audio leak, the ambiguity could have pre­vailed for years but Allah bless­ed the nation by exposing Im­ran Khan’s “fraud, deceit and worst conspiracy” against Pa­kistan. “The audio says it all. Is there any doubt now as to who hatched the conspiracy? Who are the real conspirators? It was Imran Khan and his cronies,” the prime minister said.

He said the coalition govern­ment was trying to revive bit-by-bit the ties with other coun­tries which were damaged by Imran Khan through such acts. “It was the worst dishonesty, a game played with the nation’s confidence that hurt the na­tion’s integrity. This is unprece­dented in the country’s history,” he remarked and brushed aside Imran Khan’s allegation of his role behind the audio leak. 

The prime minister said if he had been behind this, his own audio leak would not have sur­faced. Recalling the process of the vote of no-confidence against Imran Khan and the re­jection of the motion by that time deputy speaker, the prime minister said Imran Khan and his party had wasted the na­tion’s time. “That conspiracy stands exposed without any am­biguity. For the last five years, I have been saying that he (Imran Khan) is the biggest liar doing all just to serve his own inter­ests,” he commented.

He told the media that the Na­tional Security Committee, in its two meetings, categorical­ly made it clear that the cipher had nothing to do with the con­spiracy.

To a question, Shehbaz Sharif confirmed that the PM House’s copy of the cipher was missing, and held Imran Khan responsi­ble for this missing.

Coming to the flood situa­tion, the prime minister said the coalition government had spent Rs100 billion for relief of the flood-stricken popula­tion as relief items including tents, blankets and food items were also being supplied to the suffering people.

The prime minister also ac­cused the former PM for ma­ligning the government just to keep the donors from sup­porting the flood-hit people of Pakistan.

“This is a disservice to Paki­stan. This cold-hearted person did not think of the suffering humanity. He has no soft corner for humanity,” the prime minis­ter said and appreciated the ef­forts of his ministers and insti­tutions including NDMA and PDMA for relief and rehabilita­tion of the flood-hit people.