PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz said on Monday that nobody had the right to tap anyone’s private conversation but clarified that a discussion during which the “country’s fate” was decided did not qualify as a private conversation.

She expressed these views while speaking about a series of audio clips, purportedly featuring the conversation of relatives of former and sitting judges of the top judiciary, at a workers’ convention in Lahore on the occasion of International Labour Day.

The said clips surfaced over the past month, with one allegedly featuring the voice of the former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar’s son demanding a “reward” for a “job done for a PTI ticket candidate”.

Another clip that Maryam referred to in her speech today purportedly featured a conversation between two women, one of whom is said to be the mother-in-law of a top-ranking serving judge of the Supreme Court and the other the spouse of one of the PTI’s legal advisers — Khawaja Tariq Rahim — discussing a sub juice matter regarding the suo motu notice by CJP Umar Ata Bandial on the delay of elections to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies.

When these audio clips surfaced, Maryam said, an objection was raised over tapping an individual’s private conversation.

“I am in complete favour of no one having the right to tap anyone’s private conversation. But this is not a private conversation — a conversation in which decisions regarding the country’s fate are taken is not a private conversation,” she added.

Specifically referring to the audio clip purportedly featuring the mother-in-law of an SC judge and Rahim’s wife, she said, “They were not discussing the recipe for gajar ka halwa [carrot pudding]. Instead, they were detailing a conspiracy [to] bring Imran [Khan] back to power.

“And since you don’t have any answer for these audio clips and big revelations made in them, you are now questioning why the recordings were released.

“But you will have to answer to the nation.”

‘A new judicial establishment’

Earlier in her address, Maryam railed against PTI Chairman Imran Khan, labelling him as a “terrorist” and a “hurdle in the way of the country’s development”.

Decrying the country’s worsening economy, she said that it was not just Imran, but an “entire gang” led by the PTI chief that was responsible for the dire situation the country was facing today.

This “gang”, she alleged, included the “most corrupt personalities of Pakistan”, naming retired army officials and former and sitting judges as its members.

Maryam also spoke about Imran’s long march and Jail Bharo Tehreek following his ouster as the prime minister, alleging that the PTI chief had “conspired” to dissolve the assemblies and stop the appointment of the new army chief.

“But when all of these tactics failed, a new judicial establishment — with some new and some old faces — has stepped in to save him,” she claimed, adding that it was an “evil nexus”.

Continuing her tirade, the PML-N leader further alleged that the PTI wanted elections in time for their “facilitators in the Supreme Court” to be able to help them win the contest.