Govt notifies panel to probe ‘newsleak’

Justice Aamer Raza’s appointment stirs up another controversy

ISLAMABAD: In an effort to establish identify the person who had leaked ‘fabricated information’ about a high-level meeting of top civil and military officials to a newspaper, the government on Monday announced a committee to be headed by a retired high court judge.

The story published in daily Dawn on October 6 stirred up a controversy in the country, with the army demanding that the government fix responsibility and punish the culprit behind the leak.



Buckling under relentless pressure, the government had sent its information minister, Senator Pervaiz Rashid, packing after preliminary investigations established a ‘lapse’ on his part.

According to an interior ministry notification issued on Monday, Justice (retd) Aamer Raza Khan has been appointed as head of the seven-member committee. It has representations from security agencies with one member each from the ISI, MI and the IB.

In addition, Establishment Secretary Tahir Shahbaz, Punjab Ombudsman Najam Saeed and FIA Director Usman Anwar are also included in the committee that has been tasked to submit its report within the next 30 days.

“It will enquire into the circumstances of the alleged leak, besides determining the interests and motives behind the press leak/publication,” the notification said.

The committee has been assigned to establish the identity of those responsible for the ‘leak’ and apportion blame on the identified individual(s). The MoI shall provide secretarial support to the committee, the notification maintained.



Former Election Commission of Pakistan secretary Kanwar Dilshad, reacting to the notification, told The Express Tribune that the ruling party had chosen Justice Raza for the Punjab chief minister in the caretaker setup before the 2013 elections, saying his daughter, Dr Nosheem Raza, is the vice principal of the Sharif Medical College. He, however, said the PML-N had withdrawn his name after the PPP opposed his nomination, calling upon the army establishment to take notice of this matter.

Meanwhile, mainstream political parties also expressed reservations over the committee set up under the retired judge. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), while expressing “serious reservations” over the appointment of Justice (retd) Aamer Raza Khan, said: “The chief justice of Pakistan should have appointed the head of the investigation commission (committee) instead.”

“There are reports that Justice (retd) Aamer Raza’s daughter is associated with the Ittefaq Group. Justice Raza’s appointment via the prime minister and his selection as head of the committee is a glaring example of ‘conflict of interests’.”

The PTI demanded that the committee report “be presented to the chief justice (the apex court) instead of the prime minister”.

“If the report is presented to the premier, then it would meet the same fate as that of the Model Town incident report,” it feared and vowed to not allow the government to “mismanage the issue and let the culprits escape”.

Pakistan Peoples Party’s Faisal Karim Kundi said, “Keeping in view the history of such commissions, the party has serious reservations over the formation of another commission to probe a controversial matter.”

“Commissions like this are made either to give a clean chit (to the rulers) or to settle the dust. What happened with the Abbottabad Commission or Justice Baqir Commission (made to probe the Model Town incident)? This commission would also meet the same fate.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2016.