Sumsam caught threatening official.

LAHORE -- In a leaked phone call recording that has gone viral on social media, a voice said to belong to Punjab Consolidation of Holdings Minister Syed Sumsam Bukhari can be heard threatening a health department official.

Mr Bukhari of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) can be heard asking the Renala Khurd deputy district health officer (DDHO) why he was not allowing handing over to a family the body of a person who was like a brother to him, and accused him of tormenting the family at the behest of a PML-N MPA.

Chiding the health official for doing politics over deaths, Mr Bulchari, generally 1(nown as a polite and soft-spoken person, also talks to the Okara district health officer and the deputy commissioner in a conference call and demands the body be handed over to the family and the DDHO suspended.

When contacted, Mr Bukhari acknowledged that he was talking to the DDHO, but termed most of the call manipulated and engineered released 10 days afteritactually took place. He said he would lodge a complaint with the cyber crime wing against the contents of the call.

He alleged that a fellow party member was conniving with his opponents, adding that he might disclose the identity if the situation got worse.

Meanwhile, DDHO Dr Ehsan Elahi released a video message stating that the call recording leaked online was an edited version of the conversation with the minister on the evening of June 9. He said the issue had been resolved soon afterwards.

In the call, the minister snubbed the DDHO for not releasing the body of his friend Mian Anwar, who was like a brother to him, since he was not a coronavirus patient. The officer said he was only following his superior`s instructions.

The minister told the DDHO he was harassing him and the relatives of his late friend at the behest of his (the officer`s) PML-N `masters`. The officer said he had nothing to do with the matter and...