'DG ISPR should resign'
PPP, PTI cry foul over Dawn Leaks ‘settlement’
DG ISPR Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor. PHOTO: ISPR
ISLAMABAD:
As the civil-military leadership moved to ‘settle’ the ‘Dawn leaks’ issue, two main opposition parties – the PPP and the PTI – on Wednesday cried foul, seeing the ‘deal’ as a violation of democratic norms.
PTI chief Imran Khan was more vocal in his criticism of the government for mishandling the issue from the outset and said the issue “is never about two institutions, it is about the national security of Pakistan”.
Senior PPP leader Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, on the other hand, went a step further and demanded Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Maj-Gen Asif Ghafoor to resign.
In the same tone, the opposition leader in the Senate said the government had succeeded in saving Maryam Nawaz – the daughter of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Dawn Leaks notification: PM advises Nisar to remove all ambiguities
“The actual player in the whole fiasco was Maryam Nawaz and her media cell that leaked the story,” Ahsan said while talking to the media in parliament.
None of the persons – former information minister Pervaiz Rashid, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi or the removed Principal Information Officer (PIO) Rao Tehseen – were involved in the Dawn Leaks issue, he said.
“They are made scapegoats and the Sharifs have made their utmost effort to save Maryam, who fed the story and whose cell from the Prime Minister Secretariat leaked the story,” he said, adding: “Even the journalist [who wrote the story] or the editor [of the newspaper] are not the real culprits.”
Talking to a private TV channel, he also urged the ISPR spokesperson to step down. “The army spokesperson should have resigned rather than taking back his tweet and basing his decisions on the principles of cricket,” he said, referring to the press release issued by the ISPR about withdrawing the tweet that rejected the Dawn Leaks inquiry report issued by the PM Secretariat.
The vocal PPP senator also said the notification of the Ministry of Interior was nothing except mentioning the names of the persons who were made scapegoats. “There is nothing new in the notification.”
Earlier, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah said the PM house was involved in the Dawn Leaks issue and the PPP did not approve of the joint investigation team (JIT) probing the Panama leaks.
Shah also stated that the government was making things complicated while state institutions, heading towards a collision, was not a good omen for the country. “[The] government is out of its mind and is not taking decisions with sanity.”
Dawn Leaks controversy: Army recants ‘rejection’ tweet
Shah maintained that the PPP did not stand with the ISPR’s tweet but institutions. “No institution has the right to step beyond its limits and insult other [institution], and the same is [true] for those who undermine the country’s sovereignty and integrity,” he added.
Clash among the institutions was a dangerous phenomenon, Shah said. He said the Supreme Court had ruled against the National Accountability Bureau and the Federal Investigation Agency and added that the same institutions were now tasked with investigating the prime minister by the JIT behind closed doors.
He also said the reports about skirmishes and tensions on our borders with Iran, India and Afghanistan were a serious issue and regretted that the government seemed least interested in taking the nation into confidence over the sensitive issue.
“Above all, the issue of Kashmir seems to have been put on the backburner,” he said, adding: “PM Nawaz should have addressed the nation over tensions with all our neighbours.”
Shah said the PPP had submitted an adjournment motion in the NA secretariat and urged the government to come to the house, state facts and clear its position.
He also lamented that the country had no foreign minister. “We pray that general elections are held in 2018 but the government’s knack to go for head-on collisions with one institution after the other is frightening us.”
Meanwhile, PTI supremo Imran Khan questioned the ‘settlement’ between the military and civilian government over the ‘Dawn Leaks’. The senior PTI leadership took to social media website Twitter to express displeasure over the developments regarding the ‘Dawn Leaks’ issue, with the party leadership hurling allegations at the government ranging from ‘settlement’ to ‘compromise on national security’.
For many, the PTI was playing it political but the peaceful settlement of the issue appears to have gone against Khan’s party expectations.
Khan strongly criticised the development, saying: “The whole nation now needs to know what was ‘settled’ [between the army and the PML-N government].
“The manner in which the Dawn Leaks issue has been resolved shows clearly that there is one law for the powerful and another for the weak.”
During the last approximately seven months – when this issue first surfaced – the PTI leadership had been keeping it alive, with Khan and other senior leaders never forgetting to mention it in their talks at television channels and speeches at public rallies.
PTI had openly been claiming that a member of the Sharif family was directly involved in the leaks saga and for that reason the party was expecting an outcome politically damaging for the ruling family.
Khan said Hillary Clinton had said that she lost the last presidential election because of the security issue over her email leaks, while here [in Pakistan] the whole nation kept in the dark about how the national security breach had been resolved.
“The Dawn Leaks issue is never about army and government. It is about national security,” he said. Khan demanded of the government to make public the whole inquiry commission report.
Senior PTI leader Dr Shireen Mazari said, “So, Dawn Leaks ends in a whimper, but raises more questions bec[ause] what happened to issue of national security breach? What compromises made?”
Dr Mazari questioned: ‘was it all about saving Prime Minister’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz at the risk of accepting national security breach? Nation needs answers’.
Recently appointed chief of staff to Imran Khan Naeemul Haque posted, “Nawaz can’t suppress Dawn Leaks report, a conspiracy against Pakistan Army originating from the PM House. A few dismissals not enough.”
Haque said why Maryam Nawaz not suing him if she is cleared by the Dawn Leaks report, adding will she now withdraw the Rs10 billion legal notice issued to him.
PTI MNA from Islamabad Asad Umar said: “After seven months a departmental inquiry against a civil servant and portfolio change of an adviser to the PM, is it price of national conspiracy?”
He said the basic question remains unanswered: if the story published by the newspaper was true or false. Umar said if the story was false then a departmental enquiry and change of portfolio was not just a joke but a cover-up which was a national crime.
He questioned if there was no national security breach then what has Tariq Fatemi been slapped on the wrist for? Why was Pervaiz Rashid punished?
He recalled it was not just corps commanders who said that national security had been breached but the interior minister also called it a conspiracy against Pakistan.
As the civil-military leadership moved to ‘settle’ the ‘Dawn leaks’ issue, two main opposition parties – the PPP and the PTI – on Wednesday cried foul, seeing the ‘deal’ as a violation of democratic norms.
PTI chief Imran Khan was more vocal in his criticism of the government for mishandling the issue from the outset and said the issue “is never about two institutions, it is about the national security of Pakistan”.
Senior PPP leader Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, on the other hand, went a step further and demanded Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Maj-Gen Asif Ghafoor to resign.
In the same tone, the opposition leader in the Senate said the government had succeeded in saving Maryam Nawaz – the daughter of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Dawn Leaks notification: PM advises Nisar to remove all ambiguities
“The actual player in the whole fiasco was Maryam Nawaz and her media cell that leaked the story,” Ahsan said while talking to the media in parliament.
None of the persons – former information minister Pervaiz Rashid, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi or the removed Principal Information Officer (PIO) Rao Tehseen – were involved in the Dawn Leaks issue, he said.
“They are made scapegoats and the Sharifs have made their utmost effort to save Maryam, who fed the story and whose cell from the Prime Minister Secretariat leaked the story,” he said, adding: “Even the journalist [who wrote the story] or the editor [of the newspaper] are not the real culprits.”
Talking to a private TV channel, he also urged the ISPR spokesperson to step down. “The army spokesperson should have resigned rather than taking back his tweet and basing his decisions on the principles of cricket,” he said, referring to the press release issued by the ISPR about withdrawing the tweet that rejected the Dawn Leaks inquiry report issued by the PM Secretariat.
The vocal PPP senator also said the notification of the Ministry of Interior was nothing except mentioning the names of the persons who were made scapegoats. “There is nothing new in the notification.”
Earlier, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah said the PM house was involved in the Dawn Leaks issue and the PPP did not approve of the joint investigation team (JIT) probing the Panama leaks.
Shah also stated that the government was making things complicated while state institutions, heading towards a collision, was not a good omen for the country. “[The] government is out of its mind and is not taking decisions with sanity.”
Dawn Leaks controversy: Army recants ‘rejection’ tweet
Shah maintained that the PPP did not stand with the ISPR’s tweet but institutions. “No institution has the right to step beyond its limits and insult other [institution], and the same is [true] for those who undermine the country’s sovereignty and integrity,” he added.
Clash among the institutions was a dangerous phenomenon, Shah said. He said the Supreme Court had ruled against the National Accountability Bureau and the Federal Investigation Agency and added that the same institutions were now tasked with investigating the prime minister by the JIT behind closed doors.
He also said the reports about skirmishes and tensions on our borders with Iran, India and Afghanistan were a serious issue and regretted that the government seemed least interested in taking the nation into confidence over the sensitive issue.
“Above all, the issue of Kashmir seems to have been put on the backburner,” he said, adding: “PM Nawaz should have addressed the nation over tensions with all our neighbours.”
Shah said the PPP had submitted an adjournment motion in the NA secretariat and urged the government to come to the house, state facts and clear its position.
He also lamented that the country had no foreign minister. “We pray that general elections are held in 2018 but the government’s knack to go for head-on collisions with one institution after the other is frightening us.”
Meanwhile, PTI supremo Imran Khan questioned the ‘settlement’ between the military and civilian government over the ‘Dawn Leaks’. The senior PTI leadership took to social media website Twitter to express displeasure over the developments regarding the ‘Dawn Leaks’ issue, with the party leadership hurling allegations at the government ranging from ‘settlement’ to ‘compromise on national security’.
For many, the PTI was playing it political but the peaceful settlement of the issue appears to have gone against Khan’s party expectations.
Khan strongly criticised the development, saying: “The whole nation now needs to know what was ‘settled’ [between the army and the PML-N government].
“The manner in which the Dawn Leaks issue has been resolved shows clearly that there is one law for the powerful and another for the weak.”
During the last approximately seven months – when this issue first surfaced – the PTI leadership had been keeping it alive, with Khan and other senior leaders never forgetting to mention it in their talks at television channels and speeches at public rallies.
PTI had openly been claiming that a member of the Sharif family was directly involved in the leaks saga and for that reason the party was expecting an outcome politically damaging for the ruling family.
Khan said Hillary Clinton had said that she lost the last presidential election because of the security issue over her email leaks, while here [in Pakistan] the whole nation kept in the dark about how the national security breach had been resolved.
“The Dawn Leaks issue is never about army and government. It is about national security,” he said. Khan demanded of the government to make public the whole inquiry commission report.
Senior PTI leader Dr Shireen Mazari said, “So, Dawn Leaks ends in a whimper, but raises more questions bec[ause] what happened to issue of national security breach? What compromises made?”
Dr Mazari questioned: ‘was it all about saving Prime Minister’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz at the risk of accepting national security breach? Nation needs answers’.
Recently appointed chief of staff to Imran Khan Naeemul Haque posted, “Nawaz can’t suppress Dawn Leaks report, a conspiracy against Pakistan Army originating from the PM House. A few dismissals not enough.”
Haque said why Maryam Nawaz not suing him if she is cleared by the Dawn Leaks report, adding will she now withdraw the Rs10 billion legal notice issued to him.
PTI MNA from Islamabad Asad Umar said: “After seven months a departmental inquiry against a civil servant and portfolio change of an adviser to the PM, is it price of national conspiracy?”
He said the basic question remains unanswered: if the story published by the newspaper was true or false. Umar said if the story was false then a departmental enquiry and change of portfolio was not just a joke but a cover-up which was a national crime.
He questioned if there was no national security breach then what has Tariq Fatemi been slapped on the wrist for? Why was Pervaiz Rashid punished?
He recalled it was not just corps commanders who said that national security had been breached but the interior minister also called it a conspiracy against Pakistan.