In letter to SC judges, Imran Khan demands immediate hearing of audio leaks plea

• Imran Khan seeks to protect rights to privacy under Article 14. 
• Says these "tampered leaks" were to target, silence criticism.
• Former premier says matters have only gotten worse.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has requested the Supreme Court to conduct an immediate hearing on a petition he filed regarding the audio leaks. 

The former prime minister wrote to the judges of the apex court and Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, seeking to protect the fundamental right to privacy of the people under Article 14. 

In his letter, the PTI chief stated that he had filed a petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution before the Supreme Court in October last year on the "unauthorised and unverified" audio leaks. 

The petition also states that the audio and video clips have "not been verified and appear to be either deep fakes or fabricated, edited, trimmed and joined, pieced together, and cannibalised to present an inaccurate and incorrect portrayal of the alleged conversations that they purport to carry."

Speaking about the leaked audio clips from the Prime Minister's House, Khan said that the PMO is a "highly sensitive state installation where matters of great national sensitivity and importance are discussed."

He said that these "tampered leaks" were to target and silence criticism. "Among others, Senator Azam Swati suffered from the worst kind of invasion of privacy possible. Various ex-public officials, myself included, and even private members of the public have suffered from leaks (or release) of unverified, edited, tampered, pieced together and even fabricated conversations," stated the letter. 

The former premier said that the matters have only gotten worse as alleged conversations purportedly involving former chief minister Parvez Elahi and a Supreme Court judge were leaked on social media. 

The PTI chief's letter comes after several alleged audios involving party leaders and several others were leaked.

Recently, a purported audio leak between PTI leader Yasmin Rashid and Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ghulam Mahmood Dogar surfaced. 

It came a day after the cop's reinstatement by the Supreme Court to the Lahore CCPO's post with the suspension of his transfer orders issued by the Punjab caretaker setup.

Meanwhile, in another instance, an alleged audio of former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi — a close ally of Khan — also surfaced in which he could be heard allegedly talking about managing courts.