KARACHI: Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar on Wednesday said the government has decided to send the audio tape of a conversation between former finance minister Shaukat Tarin and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra for a forensic audit.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Mr Tarar revealed that the ministries of law and interior consulted over the matter and the decision to take any action would be made after the forensic report was compiled.

“Every parliamentarian takes the oath to uphold national interest,” he said, adding that federal and provincial ministers take an additional oath to discharge their duties per the law.

However, the conversation between Mr Tarin and Mr Jhagra indicated that the latter violated his oath (as a provincial minister) while the former has put politics over the State.

“I think this is not only a violation of national interest but also treason,” he added.

Law minister says tape indicates KP finance minister ‘violated oath of office’

Commenting on the contempt proceedings against former prime minister Imran Khan in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), the minister expressed hope that the case will be decided as per the precedents set in past cases of similar nature, involving lawmakers from other parties and even prime ministers.

Referring to a Supreme Court decision in 2015, Mr Tarar said a bench headed by then chief justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali heard a contempt case against Mr Khan after he had called the judiciary’s role during the 2013 election shameful.

In the case, Mr Khan was let go with a warning and he had given an undertaking that he would never use such remarks for the judiciary again, Mr Tarar added.

He also took a jibe at the reply submitted by Mr Khan in the IHC, and said that if a former prime minister cannot differentiate between a sessions judge and an executive magistrate, “he should evaluate whether he is capable to rule the country”.

In his reply to the IHC on Tuesday, Mr Khan had explained that he was under a misconception that Additional District and Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry (whom he ‘intimidated’ during a public speech) was an executive magistrate carrying out executive or administrative functions on the federal government’s orders.

The law minister also said that the cabinet committee formed in June to probe the return of Rs50 billion by British authorities to the previous government was pursuing the matter and reply from the UK’s National Crime Agency was awaited for further action.

In the clips that surfaced on Monday, Mr Tarin can be heard telling Mr Jhagra and Punjab Finance Minister Mohsin Leghari and to tell the federal government that provinces could not post a budget surplus — an IMF demand — in the light of devastating floods.

In one recording, Mr Leghari had asked Mr Tarin whether such a letter would hurt the interests of the state. Mr Tarin purportedly replied: “They (PML-N) continue blackmailing us in the name of the State and we keep on helping them. This cannot happen.”

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2022