Pervaiz wasn’t present in high security meeting, why to blame him

ISLAMABAD: A dramatic development is taking place on the panorama of Pakistan as a particular segment does not want to see harmony and unity between the government and the Pakistan Army.

An instance was witnessed on Saturday when Federal Minister for Information Pervaiz Rashid was removed from his office and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif received his resignation.

The development came after the publication of a national newspaper story “Act against militants or face international isolation, civilians tell military,” by Cyril Almeida, which reported details of a high-level civil-military meeting discussing the issue of Pakistan’s banned outfits and other issues.

Earlier, it was made clear in a statement of the Prime Minister’s House that this news was in violation of set principles of reporting on national security.

The meeting of corps commanders held on October 14, 2016 presided over by Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif, while expressing concern over the concocted story, had termed it a breach of national security.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Ch Nisar and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif called on the army chief on October 27 to brief him on the progress of the investigation and recommendations related to the story.

Under the proposed recommendations and the meeting between the government delegation and the COAS, the prime minister removed Pervaiz Rashid as the information minister.

When Pervaiz Rashid was not present in the high security meeting and uttered nothing, then how the accusation was levelled against him? As far as the allegation is concerned, the Article 91(6) of the Constitution is very clear that the cabinet is wholly answerable. But experts said that the statement of the PM House on Saturday was the initiation of action in this direction.

The committee comprising the concerned departments will have to identify the responsible after the investigation and expose the brain behind this news story, whose interest was associated with it and who was the source so that action could be taken against them.

Earlier, when the government had put Cyril Almeida’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL), it was thought that this step was taken on the demand of the army. However, the military sources said that it did not ask for action against Almeida and did not demand to put anyone’s name on the ECL. The army had demanded to take action against those who leaked the news.

The sources said that at present the government and the army were on the same page and agreed that a fixed red line of security was crossed with the leakage of the news about the meeting of national security committee.

A few things seemed clear with the action of removal of the information minister that (1) security was breached (2) slackness was committed by concerned ministry and, therefore, further investigation was necessary.

Musadik Malik, spokesman for the prime minister, while talking to journalists, said that Senator Pervaiz Rashid was not held responsible for the conflicting story because the investigation into the matter was underway.