ISLAMABAD – Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan on Thursday asked Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial to take notice of a recent audio leak purportedly involving former Punjab chief minister Parvez Elahi.
In the leaked audio, Elahi can be heard allegedly talking about managing courts. He is a close aide of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.
Addressing a press conference in the federal capital on Thursday evening, the interior minister called for a forensic test of the leaked audio and urged the CJP to bring the culprits to justice.
“If the former Punjab CM is found guilty after the forensic, then the matter should be presented before the judicial committee,” he added.
Sanaullah said the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) would be tasked with the arrest of Elahi, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader, after forensic audit of the audio conversation. “Prima facie, Parvez Elahi should be arrested after registration of a case.”
He said the FIA had also been directed to consult the Ministry of Law and Justice on the issue.
Sanaullah, who is a close aide of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and a key minister in the coalition government led by the PML-N, said it was not the first audio leak. Such audios were leaked on multiple occasions but no action was taken. That’s why the former Punjab chief executive “fearlessly [tried to] manage” the top court of the country, he said.
At the press conference, Sanaullah played a censored clip of the leaked audio, saying he did not want to reveal the identity of the superior court judge before forensic analysis of this audio.
“How courageously he [Elahi] was managing the country’s top court. I will request the chief justice to take notice of this.”
