Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The newsgate scandal has become more damaging for the government than Panama leaks and sit-in by Imran Khan which would be held on November 2 in Islamabad.

In the light of the probe carried out by the investigation team, consisting of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB), the court martial of all the characters would be accomplished and it is very much likely that the military court may award them capital punishment. The action would be taken against those found guilty under the 21st constitutional amendment in Official Secret Act.

The investigation team would question sacked information minister Pervez Rashid, Principal Secretary to PM Fawad Hassan Fawad, Mohiuddin Wani, Foreign Affairs Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and Dawn reporter Cyril Almeida.

Rumours are floating in the government circles that a top bureaucrat may become approver in the case.

Talking to Daily Times, legal and constitutional experts termed the matter of leakage of the national security meeting more than serious for the government.

Former Supreme Court chief justice Saeeduz Zaman said Pervez Rashid’s resignation would not be enough rather the investigation team would probe the matter now and its report would determine that who was behind the news leakage and the case would be heard either by military or civil court. He said that it is the matter of national security and the court not only award the culprits under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) but also slap a life-time bar from taking part in politics.

Former Election Commission of Pakistan secretary Kanwar Dilshad said the newsgate scam is not an ordinary matter. India was invited to attack Pakistan through the news item. If India would have been attacked, the UN would have termed it an apt action in the backdrop of the news.

He said that the national security institutions have controlled the situation by taking timely action. He claimed that a top government official has agreed to become approver and after his witness all the matter would be cleared.

Dilshad said that the national security organisations are terming the matter as planted news, instead of leaks which clearly means that the sit-in of PTI has no significance in front of the newsgate.

He anticipated that Nawaz Sharif’s resignation could be surfaced at any time. After the investigation, an FIR would be registered under Official Secret Act and the newsgate ‘characters’ would be court martialed.

He said the government has accepted its “half crime”. There is proof that showed links between Pervez Rashid and the reporter who published the news. More evidence would be collected by the investigation team and it would be sent to the military court.

He said that no person should be spared who put national security on stake. Action would be taken under National Action Plan and Army Act.

Islamabad Bar Association President Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri said the nation knew that the news was leaked out deliberately under a conspiracy. He said the three top secret agencies would investigate the matter and would lodge an FIR and trial would be initiated against all those involved under Secret Act.

He said that such cases would surface again if this matter is ignored. It is the need of the hour that the real culprits should be brought to justice, he added.

Former Pakistan Bar Council vice president Chaudhry Ramzan said that putting national security on stake is a hazardous matter. The nation wanted to know the facts as early as possible and also desires that the persons behind it must be punished, he added.

He hoped that the investigation team would complete its probe and culprits would be brought to law soon.