NSC meeting concludes, communique soon
Shehbaz Sharif chairs meeting; Services chiefs, heads of ISI, IB attend summit
September 28, 2022 08:24 PM
Two and half hour-long meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) to unearth the facts behind the purported audio leaks from the PM House ended here at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in Islamabad on Wednesday.
According to the 24News HD TV channel, a communique will be issued officially about the details of the meeting on a highly sensitive issue related to a security breach of the Prime Minister’s office.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif presided over the NSC meeting while the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman and all three services’ chiefs also participated in it.
The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General and Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director General also joined this summit.
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Interior Affairs, Finance Minister and Minister for Information also attended the meeting as a member of the NSC.
The NSC summit did not only discuss the audio leaks but also broach the subject related to national security. The huddle reviewed the security arrangements of the PM Office too.
An initial report about the PM House audio leaks saga was also scheduled to present in the meeting.
The PMO security breach has become a serious matter as a slew of more audio clips of conversations taking place in the PMO kept surfacing online on Monday. This has raised alarm bells among the ruling elite as well as other political leaders and national security agencies.
During a presser on Tuesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz termed the audio leaks of the PM House a matter of grave concern while announcing to form an investigation committee to unearth the facts.
He said that the issue of audio leaks was a sensitive affair putting a big question mark on the security arrangements of the PMO.
The PM said that the affair was so shameful that when the visitors from the foreign countries came to the PMO, they would feel uncomfortable if they realized that the conversations were bugged in the official places.
It has also been learnt that a joint investigation team (JIT) has been constituted to probe the massive security breach, and the top intelligence agencies have completed an initial inquiry. The agencies heads are expected to present the report before the premier in the NSC meeting today.
However, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had earlier tried to downplay the leak episode with the latter saying it a ‘storm in the teacup’. He suggested there was nothing to be concerned about if it was mere “hacking of mobile phones”. He, however, did call it a serious security breach if anyone had bugged the PM House.
He informed that the agencies had completed their initial inquiry and they would share their findings with the prime minister in the NSC meeting.