Garret Discovery, a US firm that performed the forensic analysis on the audio clip of former chief justice Saqib Nisar certifies the integrity of the audio file. The firm stated in its report that “this audio has not been edited in any way.”

An audio clip allegedly of Saqib Nisar was shared in a story by journalist Ahmad Noorani on Monday. In the clip, the former chief justice can be heard saying, “Let me be a little blunt about it; unfortunately, here it is the “institutions” who dictate judgments. In this case, we will have to penalize Mian Sahib. And “they” say “we shall bring Khan Sahib”. Regardless of the merit, we will have to do it, and even to his daughter.”

There’s another voice of the tape which said, “But, in my view, his daughter doesn’t merit a sentence.” To this, Saqib Nisar replied, “You are absolutely correct. I did talk to “friends” that something be done about this but they did not agree. There will be no independence of the judiciary, so let it be..”

The opposition parties are demanding an investigation into the matter.

Leader of opposition in the National Assembly, Shehbaz Sharif wrote in a tweet, “Time has come to right the wrongs inflicted on them (Nawaz Sharif & Maryam Nawaz). The nation looks forward to justice system.”

The government, however, on the other hand has called it a conspiracy against the judiciary cooked up by PML-N leadership.

Minister for information and broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry tweeted a video of Saqib Nisar where he’s heard saying the same words in the audio clip.

“It seems that the campaign against the judges was prepared in a hurry. All the characters are behind this vicious campaign,” said Chaudhry.

The former chief justice claims the audio clip is fabricated.

The journalist who broke the story said in a tweet on Monday, “Each and every word said by any person can be found out in one’s previous speeches and talks. I have released the forensic report of audio by a credible organisation. The only way to reject it is to come up with a forensic report of the audio I have released and prove it wrong,” wrote Noorani.