PTI leader and former human rights minister Shireen Mazari on Tuesday claimed that staff at her Islamabad residence had discovered a “voice recorder” in her bedroom a day earlier.

“I was at Banigala yesterday when I received a call from my domestic worker that a device had been attached underneath a coffee table in my bedroom,” she said at a press conference in Islamabad alongside Shibli Faraz.

The former minister said she initially thought the device in question was a USB. But upon further investigation, we discovered that it was a “voice recorder”, she said, adding that the device was an “American model”.

She further claimed that the device was the same as the “listening device” found at PTI chief Imran Khan’s residence last month.

“The question that arises is who installed it? That too in my bedroom. We have our doubts regarding who is behind it. But I want to highlight that this is a violation of the Constitution.”

Sharing details about the device, she said that it was traceable and had a mic through which “everything could be heard”.

“What are they trying to find out?” she asked, stating that the state had “no limits”.

“What more do you want to achieve? Fake cases have been lodged against us. Our mobile phones have been tapped. The law and the Constitution has been turned into a joke.”

The ex-minister claimed that the concept of privacy had vanished from society, adding that all dissenting voices were being subjected to this ordeal.

“But I will stand up against this and file a constitutional petition in the Islamabad High Court. They have infringed on my right to privacy and protection.”

She also urged the government and the state to be cautious as the people in the country were angry because of the foreign conspiracy — which the PTI claims was hatched to oust its government — and were standing up against the state.

“You saw the results of the Punjab by-elections. But it seems like the agencies are still not understanding [the situation],” she said.

“Whether it be neutrals or any other secret agency, no one can silence us,” she said, vowing to expose everyone behind such tactics.

Later, PTI leader and former finance minister Shaukat Tarin said the “bugging of Mazari’s home is regrettable”.

“Where is the constitutional protection to the citizens of Pakistan?” he asked.

Without naming anyone, PTI leader Asad Umar said the alleged bugging showed “both how desperate these people are and how much they fear her”.

PTI’s allegations

This is not the first time the PTI has made such allegations. PTI chief Imran Khan has repeatedly warned that he would be forced to “reveal everything” about the characters involved in the alleged conspiracy to oust his government if harassment of him and his party did not cease.

Last month, PTI leader Shahbaz Gill had said that a Banigala staffer was caught installing a spy device in Imran’s bedroom.

He had told media that the suspect had been working in the PTI chief’s residence for the last six years and that was why “he was paid to install the device in the bedroom.”

Gill had alleged that Rs50,000 were given to the employee and he was told that once information started coming, more money will be given to him.

The PTI leader had also said that all intelligence and law enforcement agencies were already informed about the threats to Imran’s life.

Weeks later, the party had claimed that its supporters were receiving “threatening calls” from “unknown numbers”. Party leaders had also alleged that a pilot flying Imran to his rallies in the run up to the Punjab by-elections had also received similar phone calls.