World News | Govt Plans Necessary Steps to Secure PM Office in Wake of Audio Leaks, Says Pak Minister
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. The Pakistan government on Thursday said that it was taking necessary steps, including changing some standard operating procedures (SOPs) to secure the Prime Minister's Office in the wake of recent explosive audio leaks of secret conversations.
Islamabad, Sep 29 (PTI) The Pakistan government on Thursday said that it was taking necessary steps, including changing some standard operating procedures (SOPs) to secure the Prime Minister's Office in the wake of recent explosive audio leaks of secret conversations.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told the media that state institutions have carried out an exercise to secure the PMO in order to ensure its security.
The announcement comes a day after the National Security Committee (NSC) on Wednesday approved the formation of a high-powered committee to probe the embarrassing audio leaks from the Prime Minister's Office that have triggered a controversy and demands for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's resignation.
Ministers for defence, energy, information, interior, finance, human rights and planning along with services chiefs, the national security adviser and senior officers attended the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sharif on Wednesday.
"Some SOPs have been changed which I think is a government responsibility as oftentimes many sensitive matters are discussed in such places and there should be an environment where you are 100 per cent satisfied that you're making national decisions in a secure environment," Tarar told reporters.
He said that relevant people were consulting about cleansing of the PM Office to ensure that talks are not taped in future.
Tarar explained that basic SOPs were already in place for all sensitive buildings but security would be made more effective to avoid recurrence of such incidents.
"It will be an effort to introduce a culture and environment, not just in the PMO, but in all departments where you can ensure that sensitive information will not be leaked," he said.
Responding to a query, he said that the prime minister was not considering shifting his office after leaks of audios from the PMO.
The issue of leaks hit social media on Saturday when a taped conversation between Prime Minister Shehbaz and his principal secretary Tauqeer Shah went viral.
The last such tape surfaced on Wednesday featuring former premier Imran Khan talking about the conspiracy to topple his government.
Subsequently, the National Security Committee decided to probe the audio leaks and formed a high-level forum for this purpose. The law ministry was tasked to prepare grounds for the probe.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)