ISLAMABAD – A picture that is going viral on the social media ostensibly shows sacked Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Tareq Fatemi accompanying the Pakistani delegation in China for OBOR Summit, fueling speculations with opposition doubting government’s stance on the Dawn Leaks.
Fatemi, who was removed from his post because of the allegations that he was the one who had been feeding the news to Dawn’s reporter about the meeting and had added his own slant to it, can be seen with the Pakistani delegation in the picture.
“Govt lied again! Fatemi present in China on signing of MOUs! Part of official entourage. Shameful duplicity on Dawn Leaks,” Shireen Mazari tweeted.
Naeem ul Haque, another senior member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) also took to Twitter and criticised the government on the basis of the same picture.
However, it has now emerged that the picture central to this controversy is not from the recent delegation but dates back to the times when Fatemi was still serving in his post.
Usman Mujib Shami, Editor-in-Chief Daily Pakistan, who is currently part of the delegation, denied the reports saying Mr Fatemi was nowhere in the delegation.
Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb also repudiated the rumours and said: “PTI’s reporting on Tariq Fatemi at worst seditious and diabolic or at best ignorant and incompetent.”
https://twitter.com/Marriyum_A/status/864429784390139904
Earlier on Tuesday, the minister also said that PTI is in the habit of levelling false accusations on others, and wants to create conflict between institutions.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony of 2017 Education Expo in Pak-China Friendship Centre, the minister responded to PTI leaders’ tweets regarding Tariq Fatemi.
Marriyum Aurangzeb said the tweets of Shireen Mazari and Naeem-ul-Haque are very shameful and advised the opponents not to give statements on wrong information. She said PTI starts making allegations without doing any research.
