Govt forms inquiry committee to probe ‘Dawn leaks'

Justice (retd) Amir Raza Khan will head the committee, sources say

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has formed an inquiry committee to probe the ‘planted news story’ about a high-level huddle on national security.

The committee will be headed by a Justice (retd) Amir Raza Khan, sources confirmed on Monday. However, a notification in this regard is yet to be issued by the Interior Ministry.

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.



The development comes a week after Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid resigned from his post, following a preliminary investigation established a ‘lapse’ on his part vis-à-vis the publication of the ‘controversial’ story.

The government repeatedly rebutted the story as ‘false and fabricated’, but the denials failed to satisfy the military, which called for unmasking and punishing those who had planted it because it was a ‘breach of national security’.