ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved the sacking of his special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Syed Tariq Fatemi from his post on Saturday.
The decision came as the premier approved recommendations chalked out in Para 18 by the inquiry committee constituted after the controversial story published in leading daily DAWN.
According to the inquiry committee report, Fatemi was primarily responsible for leaking report of the key meeting to the newspaper without due permission.
A notification has also been issued by the PM office bearing signatures of principal secretary to prime minister Fawad Hassan Fawad.
Apart from removing Fatemi from the post, the premier also ordered proceedings against principal information officer (PIO) Rao Tehseen under E&D Rules 1973.
Regarding the newspaper, Dawn, its editor Zafar Abbas and columnist Cyril ALmida, who published the story ‘Act against militants or face diplomatic isolation’, the matter has been referred to APNS (All Pakistan Newspapers Society) for necessary disciplinary action.
It is relevant to mention that no action, what so ever has been proposed against the former information minister Pervaiz Rasheed who was asked to tender resignation after the story was published.
Pakistan’s English-language daily, Dawn, had published a story on October 6 in which journalist Cyril Almeida had written about an alleged civil-military rift during the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting over the issue of tackling militant outfits.
The story stirred a major controversy last year, resulting in Almeida coming under fire from the military and government and being temporarily placed on the Exit Control List.
The Dawn story quoting official sources said that civilian government and military were not on the same page regarding actions against some specific militant groups and there was heated exchange of words between Punjab CM Shehbaz and ISI chief during a national security meeting.
Pakistan army had dismissed the story as “unfounded and planted” and called for a probe into the leak.
Prime Minister Office and Punjab Chief Minister also rejected the report headlined “Act against militants or face international isolation, civilians tell military” published in the newspaper.
