ISLAMABAD – Civil and military leadership on Wednesday held a meeting where different issues, including Dawn Leaks were discussed.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, DG ISI Naveed Mukhtar, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar attended the meeting, while Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar joined the meeting at the end.
During the one and half hour long meeting, the leaders discussed ways to settle the issue of Dawn Leaks amicably.
Sources claimed that Chaudhry Nisar played a vital role for holding the meeting between civil and military leaders after a rift occurred due to action of the government over Dawn Leaks report.
The matter of rising tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan was also part of the discussion, while move of India for its spy Kalbhushan Jadhav was also discussed in the meeting.
It is worth noting that the interior minister was scheduled to hold a press conference regarding the leaks today, but it was postponed due to unknown reasons. Now, he will talk to media tomorrow.
The Dawn Leaks controversy started in October last year when Pakistan’s leading daily ‘Dawn’ in one of its stories by the name ‘Act against militants or face diplomatic isolation’ hinted at the rift between civil-military relations.
The story stirred a major controversy, resulting in columnist Cyril 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 that led to the formation of an inquiry commission.
Prime Minister Office and Punjab Chief Minister also rejected the report published in the newspaper.
