In a rare statement — which was also carried by the state-run PTV — the prime minister also said that people behind tampering with the diplomatic cipher will face the law.

The statement follows two audio leaks of former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan who is heard discussing a diplomatic cipher with his principal secretary, Azam Khan, and federal minister Asad Umar and Shah Mahmood Qureshi. The discussion involves giving a certain interpretation to the cipher and using it as evidence of a “foreign consipracy” to remove Imran Khan from power.

In the leaked audios, Azam Khan proposes that then-Foreign Miniter Qureshi will read out the cipher and he (Azam Khan) will record the minutes of the meeting in a way that suits the PTI narrative.

After Khan was ousted through a vote of Parliament, he named the United States the country behind the conspiracy and claimed that Washington removed him with the help of local collaborators.

Imran Khan and PTI have not challenged the authenticity of the audio clips and instead said that the leaks endorsed PTI narrative around the cipher.

The current government has announced a probe over the issue of the cipher.

In his statement on Monday, Shehbaz Sharif said that people who had been caught red-handed were defaming the institutions.

He said thieves wanted to escape punishment by defaming the institutions.

Without naming anyone, Shehbaz Sharif said that a plotter was now hatching a conspiracy to foment disruption among institutions after he did the same among people.

The national security was put at risk by tampering with the diplomatic cipher and [the people responsible for it] will surely face the law, the prime minister said adding that people who have played with the national interests will be made answerable to the law.

The prime minister said that everyone was equal before the law and that popularity could not place someone beyond the reach of the law.

He also said that “your” leaked audios have revealed the grave conspiracy against the national interest of Pakistan.