Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar on Wednesday said that the federal government has decided to conduct a forensic audit of audio leaks attributed to PTI Senator Shaukat Tarin regarding the crucial International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
\nOn Monday, two audio clips surfaced via TV channels and social media in which a man said to be Tarin can be heard guiding Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab\u2019s finance ministers to tell the federal government and the IMF that they would not be able to commit to a provincial budget surplus in light of the recent floods that have wreaked havoc in Pakistan.
\nLast week, KP Finance Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra had written a letter to the Ministry of Finance conveying his administration\u2019s inability to provide a provincial surplus this year.
\nThe audios triggered criticism against the PTI as the ruling coalition alleged that they were nothing but a conspiracy to derail the government\u2019s deal with the global lender.
\nAddressing the issue at a press conference in Islamabad today, Tarar said: \u201cConsultation with the interior and law ministries are underway [\u2026] we have decided on a forensic audit of the audio conversations and once the consultative process is complete, it will be acted upon and action taken as per the law.\u201d
\nThe law minister said that legal action would be taken against those who \u201craised their hands against the state or spoke against its interests\u201d.
\nTarar termed the affair \u201cvery painful\u201d and said that the former finance minister\u2019s conversation and direction amounted to \u201chypocrisy and sedition\u201d against the state and its interests.
\nHe said that the government ministers undertook oaths at the time of appointment in which they pledged to only follow the law in discharging their duties instead of listening to anyone else.
\n\u201cAfter that conversation, it seems the PTI\u2019s KP finance minister (Jhagra) strayed from fulfilling his oath and the former finance minister (Tarin), whom this was not expected of, crossed all limits and prioritised politics over the state.\u201d
\nA day ago, an application was filed with Islamabad police to register a treason case against PTI Chairman Imran Khan, Tarin and incumbent finance ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mohsin Khan Leghari and Taimur Khan Jhagra.
\n\u00a0
\nThe audio leaks
\nIn the clips that surfaced on Monday, Tarin can be heard telling Punjab Finance Minister Mohsin Leghari and KP\u2019s Taimur Jhagra to tell the federal government that provinces could not post a budget surplus \u2014 an IMF demand.
\n\u201cWe only wanted the provincial finance minister to write to the federal government so \u201cpressure falls on these b******* \u2026 they\u2019re jailing us, filing terrorism charges against us and they\u2019re going away completely scot-free. We can\u2019t allow this to happen,\u201d the voice purportedly that of Tarin\u2019s is heard telling Leghari.
\nLeghari asks Tarin whether the activity would hurt the state, to which Tarin responds: \u201cWell \u2026 frankly speaking, isn\u2019t the state suffering the way they are treating your chairman and everybody else? This will definitely happen that the IMF will ask \u2018where will you arrange the money from\u2019 and they (the government) will bring another mini-budget.\u201d
\nTarin further says that it could not be allowed that \u201cthey mistreat us and we stand on one side and they blackmail us in the name of the state and ask for help and we keep helping them.\u201d
\nLater in the leaked conversation, Tarin tells Leghari that the mechanism of the information\u2019s release to the public would be decided later.
\n\u201cWe will do something so it doesn\u2019t seem we are hurting the state but we should at least present the facts that you won\u2019t be able to give [budget surplus] so our commitment is zero.\u201d
\nIn the other audio, Tarin can be heard asking Jhagra whether he had drawn up a similar letter.
\n\u201c[The IMF commitment] is a blackmailing tactic and no one will release money anyway. I won\u2019t release them, I don\u2019t know about Leghari,\u201d says the man, alleged to be Jhagra.
\nTarin says the letter, once drafted, would also be sent to the IMF representative so \u201cthese b******* know that the money they were forcing us into giving will be kept by us\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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