Interior ministry suspends officer for 'info leak'

Show-cause notices served on joint secretary, deputy secretary

ISLAMABAD: Taking notice of a sensitive information leak, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has served show-cause notices on senior officials of his ministry.

The joint secretary, the deputy secretary and the section officer have been ordered to show cause of the leak while the section officer has been suspended as well, according to a statement from the interior minister issued on Saturday.



“On the basis of initial report, the section officer of Ministry of Interior is ordered to be suspended immediately,” said Nisar, adding that it was highly unacceptable that a government official is careless with an important document. “There is no need for such officials in the Ministry of Interior.”

It was reported in a section of the media on Saturday that the interior ministry had warned the Punjab Rangers that their policing powers would be withdrawn if they failed to explain, by Monday, a recent ‘controversial’ raid on a housing society on the outskirts of Islamabad.

“If the requisite report is not provided by the paramilitary force by Monday, May 22, 2017, the powers conferred on Punjab Rangers under Anti-Terrorism Act [ATA] shall be suspended in public interest,” a letter addressed to the Director General of Punjab Rangers, Lahore said, as claimed in the media reports.



The reports claimed that the Rangers carried out the raid at the May 13-14 midnight, and arrested several people without informing the district administration.

According to the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 under which Rangers were permitted to operate in the Punjab, the paramilitary force is bound to work alongside the police and keep the district administration into the loop regarding its operations. However, no such steps had been taken during the raid, as claimed by the media.