Pervaiz Rashid fired over security meeting leak

Pervaiz Rashid fired over security meeting leak

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervaiz Rasheed has been removed from his position as the federal minister, ARY News reported.

The story quoting official sources said that civilian government and military were not on same page during national security meeting and that Pakistan was facing global isolation.

The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and ISI chief and other officials.

Pakistan army had dismissed the story as “unfounded” and called for a probe into the security meeting’s leak.

Prime Minister Office and Punjab Chief Minister also rejected the report headlined “Act against militants or face international isolation, civilians tell military” published in Dawn on Oct 6.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif denied the contents as a “fabrication” and directed that those responsible should be identified for stern action.

“It had risked the vital state interests through inclusion of inaccurate and misleading content which had no relevance to actual discussion and facts,” a statement by PM House said following a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif.

“The planted story related to NSC and NAP meetings published in Dawn on October 6 was a breach of national security. Evidence available so far points to a lapse on part of Information Minister, who has been directed to step down from office to enable holding of an independent and detailed inquiry,” a statement by PM office said.

“An including committee including senior officers of ISI, IB and MI is being formed by the Government to Pakistan to clearly apportion blame, identify arrests and motives and expose all those responsible for this episode of stern action in the national interest,” it said.



The resignation is the first after the controversial news story published in a leading daily newspaper, which is considered as a serious breach of national security. Sources said that the resignation has been sent to the Prime Minister, who will take the final decision.

The federal minister is the biggest casualities of the investigation into the national security breach. Musadiq Malik, the spokesman for the Prime Minister has said that Pervaiz Rasheed is responsible for the Newsgate.