Nawaz orders stern action over ‘fabricated news’

Army, intelligence agencies will continue to lead indiscriminate terror fight .

ISLAMABAD: The civil and military leadership has voiced concern over the publication of a ‘fabricated news story’ in a leading English-language daily of the country, while saying that the “army and intelligence agencies will continue to lead the indiscriminate fight against terrorism”.

The matter was discussed at a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief General Raheel Sharif where attendees also included Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, ISI chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akthar and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

“The participants of the meeting expressed concern over the publication of a fabricated news story in Daily Dawn pertaining to security issues purportedly discussed in a meeting of the National Security Committee last week,” the Prime Minister House said in a statement after the meeting.

“The participants were unanimous that the published story was clearly violative of universally acknowledged principles of reporting on national security issues,” it added. “[It] has risked vital state interests through inclusion of inaccurate and misleading contents which had no relevance to actual discussion and facts.”



According to the statement, the meeting participants felt that it was imperative that print and electronic media refrained from speculative reporting on issues of national security and interests of the state. “The prime minister took serious notice of the violation and directed that those responsible should be identified for stern action,” it added.

The meeting reaffirmed that the “army and intelligence agencies shall continue to play a lead role in the fight against terrorism which is proceeding smoothly and without any discrimination whatsoever with complete consensus of all stakeholders”.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the security establishment briefed Premier Sharif on the steps taken to counter the recent uptick in terrorist activities in Balochistan where a Rawalpindi-bound passenger train was targeted days after the killing of four women of the Hazara community.

Sharif was reportedly briefed that the attacks were directly linked to escalation in Pakistan-India hostilities and was a result of Delhi’s involvement in terrorist incidents in Balochistan and elsewhere in the country.

Insiders said Premier Sharif and his aides assured the military command of their complete support when briefed on the existence of sleeper cells of sectarian terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in different parts of the country, particularly in southern Punjab.

Sources said the younger Sharif’s participation indicated that the issue figured high in the meeting. A few weeks ago, reports surfaced that the paramilitary Rangers had launched operations in Punjab and arrested terror suspects.



However, talking to The Express Tribune, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the presence of sleeper cells of terrorist outfits could not be attributed to a single province. “There is no denying that sleeper cells of terror outfits pose challenges for the security forces. But to say that they are confined to one province is not correct. Such patches can be anywhere—in any part of the country,” he said.

Asked to comment on the presence of Shahbaz Sharif in the meeting, Sanaullah said, “A baseless story attempted to create a misleading impression based on the wishful thinking and unfounded grounds. It was necessary—to clear the air.

“Also, he [Shahbaz Sharif] heads Pakistan’s largest province and Indian highhandedness has posed security challenges at the eastern border that falls in Punjab. In this context, the chief minister presence was necessary.”

The minister said RAW-sponsored terrorists were looking for soft targets out of sheer desperation. “There has been an upsurge in terror attacks in Balochistan. There is a possibility that RAW could be using sleeper cells of a sectarian outfit to kill innocent people. In this context, how can you justify that sleeper cells are a ‘Punjab-only’ phenomenon?” he asked.

A government source also claimed that Indian security forces suffered heavily in recent skirmishes at the Line of Control (LoC). “The recent days have been very hard on them and there isn’t much they can do about it. As a result, the other side has resorted to cowardly tactics by waging covert intelligence warfare on soft targets,” the source said, while explaining the motives behind the killing of Hazara women.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2016.