PM appoints Maryam Aurangzeb as minister of state for information

Development comes two days after Pervaiz Rashid was removed from his post


Sehrish Wasif October 31, 2016

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has appointed Maryam Aurengzeb as the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, two days after Senator Pervaiz Rashid was removed from his post.



Aurangzeb is a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker from Punjab, and occupies a reserved seat for women in the National Assembly.

Buckling under relentless pressure, the government on Saturday sent its information minister packing after preliminary investigations established a ‘lapse’ on his part vis-à-vis a ‘planted news story’ about a top level huddle on national security.



Rashid’s sacking came barely 48 hours after an unusual meeting of senior government functionaries with army chief General Raheel Sharif at the Army House.

Ahsan Iqbal tipped to replace Pervaiz Rashid as information minister

The Dawn‘s staffer’s story, “Act against militants or face international isolation, civilians tell military” described what transpired in a high-level meeting in which the civil leadership allegedly criticised the military’s policies on militancy.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar ali Khan said on Sunday a high-powered committee will probe ‘Dawn leaks’ and those responsible will be exposed.

Pervaiz Rashid should have told Almeida ‘not to run false story’: Nisar

“It will be a full-fledged (investigation) committee as it is a huge task that intelligence agencies alone cannot do,” he said. “Tomorrow names for the committee will be decided in a meeting with the Prime Minister and this task will be completed as soon as possible.”

The leak was false news which “has compromised our national narrative (against terrorism)”, added Nisar.

COMMENTS (8)

Kulbhushan Yadav | 7 years ago | Reply @Haji Atiya: Moghuls had Turkish/Mongol ancestors.
Haji Atiya | 7 years ago | Reply @Arvind: Aurangzeb was a Mughal not Mongol.
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