Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Maryam Nawaz Sharif – the daughter of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif – has announced to send Rs 1 billion defamation notice to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) information secretary Naeemul Haque.

Naeemul Haque had alleged that Maryam Nawaz was involved in the story pertaining to security meetings, being leaked to an English newspaper. According to the Sharif family spokesman, Naeemul Haque should immediately apologise otherwise be ready to face legal action.

On October 29, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took back the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage from Pervaiz Rashid weeks after the military’s top commanders said a ‘false and fabricated’ newspaper report breached national security.

According to a statement from the PM’s office, the premier has directed Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid to step down to enable holding of an independent and detailed inquiry into the episode.

The Dawn newspaper had published the story on October 6, in which journalist Cyril Almeida had written about an alleged civil-military rift during the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting over the issue of tackling jihadi outfits.

The story drew an outpour of criticism with the military stating that it was fed to the reporter and demanded investigations into it. It cost Almeida placement of his name on the Exit Control List for less than a week, before the government eventually lifted his travel ban.