ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan on Sunday said that Pervaiz Rashid – being the Information minister – should have told the reporter to not run the ‘baseless’ story.
“Pervez Rashid should have informed the journalist – Cyril Almeida – that the news is incorrect and should not be published as it was against national interest and in case the reporter resisted, Rashid could have reached out to the newspaper’s editor with the same message,” Nisar said while explaining the government’s point of view on Pervez Rashid’s sacking.
Nisar – while sharing the newspaper story’s probe details with media persons – said that a decision was taken in a meeting between the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Army Chief Raheel Sharif that an initial inquiry should be conducted.
“A committee, headed by me, including the Law minister and some other officials investigated the matter and concluded that the information minister is at fault,” he said.
According to Nisar, the contents of the controversial story were completely baseless as there was no such meeting held on that day and all the information leaked to the journalist – about an altercation between Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and the ISI chief or the foreign secretary’s comments of Pakistan stands globally isolated – are all false.
The Interior minister acknowledged the foreign secretary and lauded his services by saying that ‘he is a true servant of the state’.
