PTI wants CJP to form panel on ‘newsleak’

PAT says ex-judge heading probe body should not be from Punjab

ISLAMABAD: Smelling a rat in the motives of the federal government in setting up a committee to probe a controversial news story on national security appearing last month, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf called for setting up a commission by the chief justice of Pakistan to investigate the matter to avoid possible conflict of interest.

This development is an expression of PTI’s growing trust in the Supreme Court and that the party was out to give the federal government a tough time on this issue too.



On Saturday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan announced that a high-powered committee, headed by a retired high court judge, will probe the matter and names of possible committee members had been sent to the prime minister for finalising the committee.



“The prime minister should not be made an appointing authority [to finalise names for the committee] … Because the committee is supposed to question close aides of the PM, his personal staff, and possibly one of his family members,” PTI spokesperson Naeemul Haque told The Express Tribune.

Haque believes it would constitute a conflict of interest if the PM appointed the head of a committee that would investigate his close confidants.

“The CJP should form the commission and appoint its head. Upon completion of the probe, the commission should submit its report to the CJP instead of the PM to ensure fairness and transparency,” Haque said, adding that the PTI would reject any committee formed by the federal government itself.

Haque said everyone was aware of the fate of the findings of a commission formed by the government to probe the killing of over a dozen Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers in Model Town, Lahore.



“The PML-N has a history of pushing important issues under the rug,” he pointed out.

On Saturday,the interior minister expressed the hope that the notification of that committee would be issued by Monday (today).

Succumbing to intense pressure from some quarters, the government sacked Pervaiz Rashid as information minister.

The news report appeared in a leading newspaper on October 3 and since then, the government repeatedly rebutted it, terming it ‘false and fabricated’, but the denials have failed to satisfy the military top brass, who called for punishing everyone responsible for planting the story because it was a ‘breach of national security’.

The PAT also endorsed the PTI’s demand, saying that the judge heading the committee should not be from Punjab.

“The prime minister and his close aides are involved in the saga. Will they ensure transparent investigations against themselves?” PAT’s Secretary-General Khurrum Nawaz Gandapur said.

He said the Supreme Court should intervene and form a committee to probe the issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2016.