ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army on Saturday rejected the government’s notification on the Dawn Leaks inquiry on the plea that it is “incomplete and not in line with recommendations by the Inquiry Board”.
The notification has recommended the removal of Syed Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs after he was found guilty to share details of a security meeting to Dawn newspaper, findings of an inquiry report said.
DG ISPR Major-General Asif Ghafoor rejected the notification on his official Twitter.
“Notification on Dawn Leak is incomplete and not in line with recommendations by the Inquiry Board. Notification is rejected,” the spokesman said.
Tariq Fatemi was found guilty for leaks of sensitive information to Dawn newspaper in October 2016 without permission.
It was claimed in the Dawn report that the civilian and military leaders had differences on key issues including how to deal with the militants.
It was further claimed that the civilian leaders in the meeting had “warned the military leadership of a growing international isolation of Pakistan” if the approach towards the militant groups were not changed.
The government had rejected the report and formed a seven-member inquiry committee in November to ascertain the source who leaked information about a high-level meeting between top military and civilian officials, to Dawn.
The committee headed by a former Supreme Court judge was assigned to “inquire into the circumstances surrounding the alleged leak, determine the interests and motives behind the leak and publication of the story, establish the identity of those responsible and apportion blame.”
“Allocation of portfolio of Foreign Affairs to Syed Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, shall be withdrawn. Necessary notification in this regard should be issued forthwith,” a statement from the PM office said.
The committee also called for action against Rao Tehsin Ali, Principal Information Officer of the Ministry of Information on the charges based on findings in the instant report.
The inquiry report has recommended to the newspapers’ owners All Pakistan Newspaper Society” to take necessary disciplinary action against Dawn editor Zafar Abbas and reporter Cyril Almeida.
The newspapers owners have also been asked to develop a Code of Conduct for the print media, especially when dealing with issues relating with security of Pakistan and to ensure stories on issues relating to national importance and security are published by abiding to basic journalists and editorial norms. NNI