PTI moves adjournment motion in NA over Dawn Leaks controversy

Party demands government to present inquiry report before Parliament for a thorough discussion

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday moved an adjournment motion in the National Assembly over the Dawn Leaks issue.

The motion was moved a day after Pakistan Army recanted its statement which rejected the notification issued by the Prime Minister’s Office to punish those involved in the scandal.

“On behalf of PTI parliamentary party, we the undersigned move an adjournment motion requiring suspension of normal agenda to discuss a matter of critical national importance: the Dawn Leaks issue which was referred to, as a national security breach by the interior minister and the corps commanders meeting — immediately after it came to light,” said the motion moved by PTI MNAs Asad Umar, Shafqat Mahmood and Munazza Hasan.



Demanding the inquiry report be presented in the Parliament, the PTI lawmakers upheld that the so-called ‘settlement’ of the issue raised more questions. “The inquiry report on the issue be laid before Parliament so the issue can be discussed thoroughly and the government provide answers to serious questions raised not only by the incident itself but also by the non-transparent manner in which the issue was claimed to have been ‘resolved’.”

On Wednesday, PTI chairman Imran Khan reiterated his demand to make the inquiry report public, saying the nation was being "kept in the dark". In a series of tweets in reaction to the statements over the issue by the ISPR and the Interior Ministry, Imran said the issue was about national security, and the nation needs to know what was ‘settled’.

In a controversial story, attributed to unnamed sources, Cyril Almeida had reported in the English daily that in a high-level meeting on national security held on October 3 last year, the civilian leaders spoke about the growing diplomatic isolation of Pakistan for lack of action against some militant groups. From the military side, DG, ISI attended the meeting where other participants were civilian government officials, including Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif.



The news report had whipped up a storm and while the federal government had repeatedly denied it as ‘fabricated and planted’, the top army brass had called it a breach of trust on national security.