Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The government does not intend to make the Dawn Leaks inquiry report public, said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar at a meeting with members of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) and Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA).

Talking about DG ISPR’s tweet wherein he had rejected government’s notification regarding Dawn Leaks, Nisar said the army was under the impression that former minister for information Pervaiz Rasheed was being given a clean chit and that he would probably assume his office again. He said the dust settled when the army was assured that there will be no clean chit for Pervaiz Rasheed.

The minister said during ‘negotiations’ with the army following the DG ISPR’s tweet, the government wanted the army to apologise or at least express regrets over the tweet, but the matter finally settled with the withdrawal of the tweet.

Nisar said Pervaiz Rasheed admitted to him that when Cyril Almeida approached him to confirm the story and repeated exactly what was discussed in the meeting, he was shocked as to how the contents of the meeting had reached Almeida. Rasheed said Almeida knew the contents of the meeting as if he actually attended the meeting.

The interior minister said Almeida also contacted Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to confirm the story but he ‘rubbished’ the report.

The minister said that Pervaiz Rasheed initially denied his participation in the meeting but when the records were checked, it was found that he was in attendance. With Pervaiz Rasheed’s involvement in the matter proven, Rao Tehseen’s only fault appeared to be the fact that he wasn’t able to stop the story from being published, the minister said.

Nisar said action was being taken against social media users for maligning Pakistan Army, adding that two persons from the government – one from PM House’s social media team and other from Punjab CM’s team – were also among those arrested.

He said the government was doing everything under its legal authority to stop abuse of social media. He said the government was trying to make the social media giants like Facebook and Twitter to set up offices in Pakistan and help the government remove ‘controversial’ content from the social media.

In his press conference shortly after the meeting, Nisar said he wants to steer the social media in right direction, adding that social media will not be blocked but only objectionable content will be acted against.

He also hinted at cracking down against the objectionable social media accounts by intercepting the phone numbers they are linked with.

Nisar for the first time made it public that the government had its own de-radicalisation centres and was willing to talk to ‘non-ideological terrorists’ whose only motive might be to fight for the money. It is through these de-radicalisation centres, he said, that these terrorists will be brought back to the national mainstream.

The minister said he knew how the blasphemy laws were being abused to settle personal scores, adding that it was absolutely necessary to verify the matter before booking anyone under the said laws. He said the government was working to stop misuse of the blasphemy laws.

Briefing on the national security, the minister said that as many as 90 million ‘dubious’ SIM cards had been blocked so far. He said the government was working on a national security code of conduct whose details will be made public in due course of time.

The minister said it was difficult to reason with Iran when they believed everything was being done deliberately. He said former army chief General (r) Raheel Sharif had informed Tehran about Kulbhushan Jhadev but they later denied of having any knowledge about the matter.