Raja Javed Ali Bhatti
Owen Bennett Jones is a freelance British journalist and a resident foreign’ correspondent in Islamabad and a Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. Jones has a long list of anti-Pakistan and anti-Pakistan Army articles on his credit. He has been showing keen interest all these years in the affairs of the country; interesting to be in case of a foreign journalist. He is seen as pointing fingers at Pakistan Army for most of the issues faced in Pakistan. His agenda of bashing Pakistan Army is similar to agenda of people like Hussain Haqqani and other liberals who keep scolding Pakistan Armed Forces all the time. Daily Dawn published his latest anti-Pakistan article “Regional Politics” on 31 Mar 2020 which is a totally misleading and vicious account keeping in view the timings of publishing of the article, when nothing is being talked about except the Coronavirus pandemic and the nation and its Armed Forcing are fighting against this torment, Dawn has made an effort to hit the national security, the govt, the Armed Forces and the people of Pakistan. This shows that the newspaper is collaborating with the hostile elements to target Pakistan at this crucial time. The news story, highlighting alleged confrontation between the civilian government and the military at a meeting in October 2016, published by Dawn newspaper last year erupted with a storm in national politics and shortly it transformed into a news leak scandal before becoming a mainstream media fodder. It all started when the Dawn journalist Cyril Almeida “broke confidential minutes” of a meeting among the government and military officials on ‘national action plan’ in which the civilians reportedly apprised the military of mounting international pressure of more action against armed groups. The civilian government’s representatives at the meeting gave warning that Pakistan could face international isolation if the security establishment did not take the recommended course of action and what followed suit was the hornet’s nest in the military ranks. Almeida’s exclusive story came against a backdrop of mounting border tensions between India and Pakistan following a claim by the Indian government of a cross-border “surgical strike” by their on September 18. On Oct 6, Dawn news broke a story that dropped like a bombshell on the government and also it stirred hornet’s nest among the military ranks. The story highlighted alleged differences between the military and the civilian government over fight against terrorists. The story reported: “The civilian government informed the military leadership of a growing international isolation of Pakistan and sought consensus on several key actions by the state. Just hours after publication of the story, a storm erupted in political circles about sensitivity of the issue and it soon led to intense discussions on the media. Govt issues denial after news storm ,The Office of the Prime Minister on Oct 7 strongly denied the content of the news calling it fabricated. The statement issued by the PM Office said, “The published story was clearly violative of universally acknowledged principles of reporting on National Security issues and has risked the vital state interests through inclusion of inaccurate and misleading contents which had no relevance to actual discussion and facts”. “Prime Minister took serious notice of the violation and directed that those responsible should be identified for stern action,” said the statement. On Oct 10, the then Ex chief of Army staff General Raheel Sharif called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to discuss matters pertaining to national and regional security. During the meeting, they termed the “fabricated news story” against the national security.Ex Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Ex Interior Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan,Ex Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Ex DG ISI Lt. General Rizwan Akhtar were also present during the meeting. The participants were unanimous that the published story was clearly in violation of universally acknowledged principles of reporting on national security issues and has risked the vital state interests through inclusion of inaccurate and misleading contents which had no relevance to actual discussion and facts. “It had risked the vital state interests through inclusion of inaccurate and misleading content which had no relevance to actual discussion and facts,” the forum said. The participants of the meeting said that it was imperative that print and electronic media refrained from speculative reporting, issues of national security and interests of the state. Dawn news had claimed the civilian government had asked intelligence agencies to refrain from interfering in if the law enforcement agencies acted against militant groups. The meeting reaffirmed that Army and Intelligence Agencies would continue to play a lead role in our fight against terrorism. Interior Ministry decided to remove the journalist’s name from ECL after getting assurance that the journalist will help in investigation regarding his ‘fabricated’ story. The directives came after EX Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar met a delegation of All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) and The Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) who assured that the journalist Cyril Almeida will help authorities in the investigation regarding the story. “Unverified and speculative news items citing sources on national security issues must be refrained that crosses ethical boundaries of responsible journalism,” said Nisar. On Nov 7, the government constituted a commission headed by a retired high court judge for investigation into the controversial news. Former Lahore High Court Judge Amir Raza Khan will head the inquiry commission which will also include Secretary Establishment Tahir Shahbaz, Senior Muhtasib Punjab Najam Saeed and Director Federal Investigation Agency Dr Usman Anwar. The commission had one representative from each of Inter Services Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau and Military Intelligence. The committee failed to complete the inquiry on time, hence it was provided more months to conclude investigation. On April 29 , the government issued a notification of Dawn Leaks probe, triggering backlash from the army over its findings. The notification stated that the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved the recommendations of the Dawn Leaks Inquiry Committee and directed the ministries concerned and divisions for implementation. According to the recommendations, the role of Daily Dawn, Zafar Abbas and Cyril Almeida in the instant matter shall be referred to All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) for necessary disciplinary action. ISPR categorically rejected govt notification Pakistan Army rejected the notification .EX Director General Inter Services Public Relation (ISPR) Major Gen Asif Ghafoor issued a brief statement in a Tweet and said that recommendation of Pakistan Army were not incorporated. “Notification on Dawn Leak is incomplete and not in line with recommendations by the Inquiry Board,” said the military press wing. “Notification is rejected,” it stated.
