Pakistan: Minister sacked amid civil-military tension

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan’s information minister was sacked Saturday amid rising civil-military tension over a controversial news story suggesting army weakness in the face of militant groups.

Cyrel Almeida, a senior journalist and columnist, reported in English-language daily Dawn earlier this month that the government, during a high-level security meeting, had warned the army to "act against militancy or face international isolation".

The whistleblower story angered the country’s powerful army, which blasted it as “against national security,” and accused some government ministers and officials of leaking misleading and incorrect information to the reporter.

A statement from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s office Saturday said that initial investigations had found Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed, one of Sharif’s close lieutenants, guilty of negligence.

“Evidence available so far points to a lapse on the part of the information minister, who has been directed to step down from the office to enable the holding of an independent and detailed inquiry,” the statement said.

An inquiry committee made up of military and civil intelligence officials has also been formed to probe if Rasheed was actually responsible for the leak, it added.

The government initially barred Dawn’s reporter from leaving the country, but the ban was quickly lifted following pressure from local and international media. The reporter earlier this week flew to the United States to cover the presidential elections.

Almeida had quoted unnamed sources saying Sharif's brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, and other Cabinet ministers had warned army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif to act against “non-state actors” – a reference to banned militant groups like Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The controversial story came as tension remains high between hostile neighbors Pakistan and India, after the latter accused Pakistan of playing a role in an attack on an army base in Indian-held Kashmir that killed 19 soldiers.

Though the prime minister's office called Almeida's report inaccurate and misleading, Dawn management stood by the reporter, saying the story was “verified, cross-checked and fact-checked.”

Pakistan has had a long history of tense civil-military relations, with half its history directly ruled by the army since 1947.