Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today sacked his special assistant on foreign affairs Tariq Fatemi after an inquiry found him guilty of &quot;leaking&quot; vital information about a high-level security meet to a newspaper.

However, in an unusual move, Pakistan&#39;s army &quot;rejected&quot; Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif&#39;s decision to sack his trusted aide saying his action is &quot;incomplete&quot;.

&quot;Notification on Dawn Leak is incomplete and not in line with recommendations by the Inquiry Board. Notification is rejected,&quot; military spokesman Major Gen Asif Ghafoor tweeted.

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Notification on Dawn Leak is incomplete and not in line with recommendations by the Inquiry Board. Notification is rejected.
&mdash; Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) <a href="https://twitter.com/OfficialDGISPR/status/858257576210952192">April 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
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The Pakistan prime minister had&nbsp;narrowly avoided being ousted&nbsp;after the country&#39;s top court this week directed a special team consisting of a judge and top&nbsp;military officers to investigate him and his family members accused of transferring assets in tax havens abroad which came to light as part of Panama Papers leaked by Wikileaks two years ago.

Fatemi considered to be a trusted aide of the prime minister is seen as a big setback for Nawaz Sharif already under pressure due to the Panama case verdict.

Sharif&#39;s approved an inquiry committee&#39;s recommendation to remove Fatemi from his post. The inquiry committee was set up last year to probe the controversy surrounding a controversial report by daily Dawn about a key meeting on national security.

Sharif also directed that the role of Dawn editor Zafar Abbas and reporter Cyril Almeida to&nbsp;be referred to All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) for necessary disciplinary action to be taken against them.

It said that the APNS, a representative body of print media, shall also be asked to develop a Code of Conduct for the print media especially when dealing with issues relating to the security of Pakistan and to ensure that stories on issues of national importance and security are published by abiding to basic journalistic and editorial norms.

Sharif also ordered action against Rao Tehsin Ali, Principal Information Officer of the Ministry of Information, under disciplinary rules for the charges based on findings in the report.

In October, a columnist for Dawn newspaper wrote a front-page story about a rift between civilian and military leaderships over militant groups that operate from Pakistan but engage in proxy war against India and Afghanistan.

The report had said that political leadership had accused army in the high-level meeting to stop creating hurdles in the way of crackdown on some militant entities.

The government denied its role but the army took a strong dislike to the story and relations between the army and the civil government deteriorated.

The PML-N government was forced to remove then information minister Pervaiz Rasheed but a probe was demanded by the army to fix responsibility. The report was submitted to the prime minister this week.

According to the inquiry report, Fatemi was primarily responsible for leaking the report of the key meeting, and Sharif took action against him.

(WION with PTI inputs)

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had sacked his special assistant on foreign affairs Tariq Fatemi after an inquiry found him guilty of leaking vital information

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today sacked his special assistant on foreign affairs Tariq Fatemi after an inquiry found him guilty of "leaking" vital information about a high-level security meet to a newspaper. However, in an unusual move, Pakistan's army "rejected" Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's decision to sack his trusted aide saying his action is "incomplete". "Notification on Dawn Leak is incomplete and not in line with recommendations by the Inquiry Board. Notification is rejected," military spokesman Major Gen Asif Ghafoor tweeted. Notification on Dawn Leak is incomplete and not in line with recommendations by the Inquiry Board. Notification is rejected. — Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) April 29, 2017 × The Pakistan prime minister had narrowly avoided being ousted after the country's top court this week directed a special team consisting of a judge and top military officers to investigate him and his family members accused of transferring assets in tax havens abroad which came to light as part of Panama Papers leaked by Wikileaks two years ago. Fatemi considered to be a trusted aide of the prime minister is seen as a big setback for Nawaz Sharif already under pressure due to the Panama case verdict. Sharif's approved an inquiry committee's recommendation to remove Fatemi from his post. The inquiry committee was set up last year to probe the controversy surrounding a controversial report by daily Dawn about a key meeting on national security. Sharif also directed that the role of Dawn editor Zafar Abbas and reporter Cyril Almeida to be referred to All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) for necessary disciplinary action to be taken against them. It said that the APNS, a representative body of print media, shall also be asked to develop a Code of Conduct for the print media especially when dealing with issues relating to the security of Pakistan and to ensure that stories on issues of national importance and security are published by abiding to basic journalistic and editorial norms. Sharif also ordered action against Rao Tehsin Ali, Principal Information Officer of the Ministry of Information, under disciplinary rules for the charges based on findings in the report. In October, a columnist for Dawn newspaper wrote a front-page story about a rift between civilian and military leaderships over militant groups that operate from Pakistan but engage in proxy war against India and Afghanistan. The report had said that political leadership had accused army in the high-level meeting to stop creating hurdles in the way of crackdown on some militant entities. The government denied its role but the army took a strong dislike to the story and relations between the army and the civil government deteriorated. The PML-N government was forced to remove then information minister Pervaiz Rasheed but a probe was demanded by the army to fix responsibility. The report was submitted to the prime minister this week. According to the inquiry report, Fatemi was primarily responsible for leaking the report of the key meeting, and Sharif took action against him. (WION with PTI inputs)

Pak PM Nawaz Sharif sacks special adviser over security leak, Pak army 'rejects' move

The United States today (December 8) told Pakistan they were concerned about safe terror havens being provided to Afghan Taliban groups.&nbsp;

Also discussed was the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan and the escalation in fighting along the India-Pakistan border, with Washington calling for a dialogue to resolve issues.

The issues were discussed during a meeting between Special Assistant to Pakistan Prime Minister (SAPM), Syed Tariq Fatemi, and deputy secretary of state Antony Blinken, the Pakistan embassy said in a statement.

&quot;We have consistently expressed our concerns to the highest levels of Government of Pakistan about their continued tolerance for Afghan Taliban groups such as the Haqqani Network operating from Pakistan soil,&quot; state department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner said about the meeting.&nbsp;

&quot;We continue to encourage the government of Pakistan and Afghanistan, rather -- both governments to cooperate in their counter-terrorism operations and efforts because that&#39;s only going to contribute to regional stability.&quot;

Fatemi, who is on a visit to the US, told the press that the purpose of his visit was to interact with the US administration and to reach out to officials likely to join the new administration after the presidential election.

He further said Pakistan would be willing to cooperate with the new Donald Trump administration, in achieving peace in Afghanistan and improving the India-Pakistan relations&nbsp;for the sake of peace in the region.

Fatemi also accused India of &quot;human rights violations&quot; in Kashmir which he claimed had resulted in &quot;hundreds of casualties and debilitating injuries to the civilians including women and children&quot;.

&quot;The regional situation including the escalation across the Line of Control and the Working Boundary were discussed during the meeting. The SAPM briefed the deputy secretary on the frequency of ceasefire violations by India in recent weeks with particular reference to targeting of civilians across the LoC,&quot; the statement said.&nbsp;

The talks come days after India and Afghanistan slammed Islamabad for its support to extremist outfits at the at the Heart of Asia conference in India&#39;s northern city of Amritsar.

(WION with inputs from PTI) 
&nbsp;

Washington urged both Pakistan and Afghanistan to 'cooperate' and bring about regional stability in the region

The United States today (December 8) told Pakistan they were concerned about safe terror havens being provided to Afghan Taliban groups. Also discussed was the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan and the escalation in fighting along the India-Pakistan border, with Washington calling for a dialogue to resolve issues. The issues were discussed during a meeting between Special Assistant to Pakistan Prime Minister (SAPM), Syed Tariq Fatemi, and deputy secretary of state Antony Blinken, the Pakistan embassy said in a statement. "We have consistently expressed our concerns to the highest levels of Government of Pakistan about their continued tolerance for Afghan Taliban groups such as the Haqqani Network operating from Pakistan soil," state department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner said about the meeting. "We continue to encourage the government of Pakistan and Afghanistan, rather -- both governments to cooperate in their counter-terrorism operations and efforts because that's only going to contribute to regional stability." Fatemi, who is on a visit to the US, told the press that the purpose of his visit was to interact with the US administration and to reach out to officials likely to join the new administration after the presidential election. He further said Pakistan would be willing to cooperate with the new Donald Trump administration, in achieving peace in Afghanistan and improving the India-Pakistan relations for the sake of peace in the region. Fatemi also accused India of "human rights violations" in Kashmir which he claimed had resulted in "hundreds of casualties and debilitating injuries to the civilians including women and children". "The regional situation including the escalation across the Line of Control and the Working Boundary were discussed during the meeting. The SAPM briefed the deputy secretary on the frequency of ceasefire violations by India in recent weeks with particular reference to targeting of civilians across the LoC," the statement said. The talks come days after India and Afghanistan slammed Islamabad for its support to extremist outfits at the at the Heart of Asia conference in India's northern city of Amritsar. (WION with inputs from PTI)

US worried about Afghan Taliban terror pads in Pakistan

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Pak PM Nawaz Sharif sacks special adviser over security leak, Pak army 'rejects' move

US worried about Afghan Taliban terror pads in Pakistan