ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army on Saturday rejected the federal government’s notification on the Dawn Leaks inquiry saying it was “incomplete and not in line with recommendations by the Inquiry Board”.
The Army announced the rejection in a tweet sent out by Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Asif Ghafoor from his official account, “Notification on Dawn Leak is incomplete and not in line with recommendations by the Inquiry Board. Notification is rejected”.
The tweet came shortly after the prime minister’s office announced that Nawaz Sharif had approved the recommendations in para 18 of the report of the Dawn Leak inquiry committee. The executive order from the PM Office announced that it was withdrawing the portfolio of Foreign Affairs from Prime Minister Sharif’s Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi.
It added that Information Ministry Principal Information Officer Rao Tehsin Ali will be proceeded against under the E&D rules 1973 on the charges based on the report findings. The PM’s order added that the role of the editor of Dawn Newspaper, Zaffar Abbas and reporter Cyril Almeida would be referred to the All Pakistan Newspaper Association (APNS) for necessary disciplinary action to be taken against them.
The order also said that the APNS will be asked to develop a code of conduct for the media, “especially when dealing with issues relating to security of Pakistan and to ensure that stories on issues of national importance and security are published by abiding to basic journalistic and editorial norms”.
