This shouldn’t linger

The Dawn leaks controversy at last has claimed two more victims in the form of foreign affairs adviser Tariq Fatemi and Principal Information Officer Rao Tehseen Ali, after both were named in the prime minister’s notification regarding the recommendations of the Dawn leaks inquiry committee. Neither is going down without a fight, however. Fatemi, while accepting his removal from the foreign affairs ministry may continue to serve as an assistant to the PM. He also wrote a farewell letter to the Foreign Office in which he denied all accusations against him. Tehseen, meanwhile, plans on going to court to challenge the proceedings that will be initiated against him under the Efficiency and Discipline Rules, 1973. It is important to note that, as far as we know, neither Fatemi nor Tehseen have been named as the individuals responsible for the leak to the newspaper. And it seems as if Tehseen is being punished for being unable to stop the story being published. This fundamentally misunderstands the role of Fatemi and Tehseen, who can certainly advise the media against certain actions but do not have the authority to stop them. But the clamour for action was so strong that the prime minister was left in a position where he felt he had little choice but to remove them from their positions.

Much of the media analysis of the issue has necessarily been speculative in nature because the enquiry report still has not been released. And the government appears to have taken a vow of silence. There has been no response to the ill-advised ISPR tweet rejecting the prime minister’s directive other than Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan clarifying that his ministry would be issuing the proper notification. It remains to be seen if the removal of Fatemi’s foreign affairs portfolio will help in reducing civilian-military tensions and bridge the gap between them. The prime minister’s other recommendation, that the All-Pakistan Newspapers Society look into the conduct of Dawn is being considered, although it has been rejected outright by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists. More than the leaks themselves, it is the response to them that is now clearly harmful for the country and its institutions. There is an obvious gap between the civilians and the military while the media is wary of any attempt to suppress its freedom. Now there will need to be, and hopefully will be, an effort to resolve all differences without widening these gaps.The last thing Pakistan needs right now is for this controversy to linger.