ISLAMABAD: The inquiry committee formed to probe Dawn Leaks in its report has placed blame on PM’s adviser on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi and principal information officer at the Press Information Department Rao Tehseen.
The report, which has been presented to the government, recommends the removal of Fatemi and Tehseen. Purportedly Prime Minister Sharif was expected to ask Fatemi for his resignation, however, reports pertaining to this were dismissed by Fatemi who emphasized that he had no reason to resign over the issue.
According to reports the committee, headed by Justice (retd) Aamer Raza Khan, has recommended removal of Tariq Fatemi and Rao Tehseen. The inquiry committee comprised one member each from the ISI, MI and IB, Secretary Establishment Tahir Shahbaz, Ombudsman Punjab Najam Saeed, and an FIA director.
Mobile forensics data of Senator Pervaiz Rashid was also made part of the report by the inquiry committee, which could not find any evidence against the former information minister. On October 29, following a preliminary investigation, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took back the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage from Pervaiz Rashid, weeks after the military’s top commanders said the ‘false and fabricated’ report published in the Dawn newspaper breached national security. But the investigation carried out by the inquiry committee now appears to show that no evidence could be found against the former minister.
According to sources privy with the mobile forensics data in report, Dawn newspaper reporter Cyril Almeida sent at least 11 text messages to Rashid. Sources say the reporter, in the messages, requested the government not to ‘insult’ by repeatedly issuing rebuttals of his story, but the minister did not reply to most of the messages.
PID officer Rao Tehseen’s mobile phone forensics data as well as data from the Safe City Project is part of the inquiry committee report. The report is likely to be released within 24 to 48 hours. Last week, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the inquiry report into ‘Dawn leaks’ would be submitted to his ministry within two or three days. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said the government would publish the inquiry report, unlike findings of other commissions that have been under wraps in the past.
Earlier this month, DG ISPR Maj-Gen Asif Ghafoor said the army, “like every Pakistani awaits a decision based on justice and merit”.
The Pakistan Army’s top commanders expressed serious concern over the “feeding of a false and fabricated story of an important security meeting”, terming it a breach of national security.
The government called it a ‘fabricated’ story and termed the “purported deliberations” during the security meeting as speculative, misleading, factually incorrect, and an “amalgamation of fiction and fabrication”.
