Audio of former Pakistan PM Imran Khan's audio trying to buy lawmakers surfaces

ISLAMABAD: Another alleged audio of former prime minister Imran Khan surfaced on Friday, featuring him trying to buy the loyalties of lawmakers and also justifying his action before he was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April.

This is the third audio of Khan after two earlier this week showed he was talking about the cypher message sent by Pakistan's ambassador to Washington in March this year which became the centre of "cypher controversy".

In the latest recording, a voice believed to be that of the cricketer-turned-politician says: "You have a misunderstanding that now the number game is complete [...] don't think this is over."

Another audio leak allegedly of #Imrankhan on horse trading during vote of no confidence pic.twitter.com/dHPe54Q8O4

— Asma Shirazi (@asmashirazi) October 7, 2022

"You see, 48 hours is a long long time. Big things are happening. I am making my own moves that we can't make public," Khan said, adding that he was "buying five" lawmakers.

"I have given the message that those five are very important. And tell them that if they secure these five [...] and if he secures 10, then the game will be in our hands. The nation at this moment is alarmed. Across the board, people want us to win somehow," said 69-year-old Khan.

"Hence, don't worry about whether this is right or wrong [...] even if they break one, it would create a huge difference," the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief said in the audio.

Khan, who was removed from the post of prime minister on April 10 this year, is the first sitting prime minister in the history of Pakistan to be removed from office through a no-confidence motion.

A coalition led by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took charge of the prime minister's office after Khan's removal.

Senior PTI leader Asad Umar, rejecting the clip as concocted, said the audio was a compilation of talks given on different occasions.

"It is a cocktail of disjointed voices," he said.

Another PTI leader, Fawad Chaudhry, said "everyone knows where and how the audios are being made".

The leaks of privileged meetings from the Prime Minister's Office began to appear on social media last Saturday and the first was a conversation by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif about his niece Maryam Nawaz seeking a concession for her son-in-law to import some machinery from India.

Shehbaz later owned the conversation by saying that Maryam's son-in-law had imported some machinery before the suspension of trade with India and was interested in bringing more but he was not allowed.

He also set up a committee to probe the leaks and give suggestions to stop any such security breaches in the future.

The clip of Khan appeared ahead of his threat to announce a march toward the capital Islamabad in order to force early general elections.