Pervaiz Rashid breaks silence on Dawn Leaks controversy

Former information minister says he fulfilled all responsibilities within the ambit of the Constitution

Senator Pervaiz Rashid broke silence on the Dawn Leaks controversy on Wednesday, months after being removed as the information minister.

Addressing the media after a ceremony in Islamabad, Rashid who kept mum for about six months, finally spoke up about his dismissal. "I fulfilled all responsibilities as the information minister in the Dawn Leaks case within the ambit of the Constitution."



"If the state wants information ministers who can stop news stories, it should instruct universities "to teach journalism students a course, titled 'How to block news'," Rashid said.

Further explaining his take on the matter, the former minister said, "Under a democracy, one can only inform journalists about the factual errors and share your point of view with them, however, you cannot force your views on them."

"Living in a democratic society, I did whatever I could," the senator said, adding that upon being asked, he shared his point of view with Cyril Almeida.

Buckling under relentless pressure, the government on October 29, sent Rashid 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 the then army chief General Raheel Sharif at the General Headquarters. The government refuted the story published in English-language daily Dawn on October 6. The repeated denials, however, failed to satisfy the military which called for unmasking those who had planted the story.



Soon after the removal, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said Rashid should have stopped the ‘false’ Dawn report regarding a high-level security meeting from being published.

“Pervez Rashid should have told the journalist concerned that the story is incorrect, and should not be published in national interest… upon resistance he could have asked the editor of the newspaper, Zafar Abbas, not to run the story,” Nisar told reporters.

On April 29, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved an inquiry committee’s recommendation to remove PM's Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi from his post due to his alleged role in Dawn Leaks controversy.

However, in a farewell letter addressed to Foreign Office officials, Fatemi dismissed the charges against him as "false and baseless". Fatemi, along with Rao Tehsin Ali, the principal information officer of the information ministry, was held responsible for the ‘fabricated’ news story published in daily Dawn in October last year.

While Rashid and Tehsin kept quiet, Fatemi decided to contest the allegations.

“I reject the recent allegations, insinuations and innuendos,” Fatemi said in the letter, which was leaked to the media by some Foreign Office official. “Such allegations are particularly hurtful to someone who has served Pakistan for nearly five decades with honour and integrity,” he lamented.