Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today sacked Tariq Fatemi, his Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs, after an inquiry found him guilty of ‘leaking’ vital information from a high-level National Security meet to a leading newspaper.
"Allocation of portfolio of Foreign Affairs to Syed Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, shall be withdrawn," a letter from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.
The notification further noted that Rao Tehsin Ali, the principal information officer at the Information Ministry, will be proceeded against under the E&D rules 1973 on the charges based on the report findings.
It added that the role of the editor of Dawn Newspaper, Zaffar Abbas, and reporter Cyril Almeida will be referred to the All Pakistan Newspaper Association (APNS) for necessary disciplinary action to be taken against them.
The notification 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".
In October last year, a columnist for Dawn newspaper wrote a front-page story about a rift between Pakistan's civilian and military leaderships over militant groups that operate from Pakistan but engage in proxy war against India and Afghanistan.
The government had set up the inquiry committee last November to probe the controversy surrounding a controversial report by Dawn newspaper about a key meeting on national security.
According to the inquiry committee report, it is Fatemi who was primarily responsible for leaking report of the key meeting to the newspaper without due permission.
The committee, headed by Justice (retd) Aamir Raza Khan, included representatives of the Intelligence Bureau, the Military Intelligence and the Inter-Services Investigation.
Earlier, Pervaiz Rasheed was removed from the Information Ministry due to similar reasons.
Fatemi was considered as trusted aide of Sharif and his removal is a setback for the Premier who is already under pressure due to Panama case verdict.
Cyril Almeida who wrote the article had also reported that the ISI was told during the NSA meeting that its support for terror groups was leaving the country globally isolated.
The Foreign Office had vehemently rejected the report and termed it "speculative".
