Leak or what?

The way the Prime Minister's Office is trying, so far unsuccessfully, to protect the real culprit in the 'Dawn Leaks' case would be amusing were it not about a serious national security related blunder. At issue, as we know, is a report variously described as a leak, half truth, security breach, a plant, and fabrication that appeared in that respected national daily about a discussion at a high level security meeting which, purportedly, led to a heated exchange between civilian and military leaders with the former blaming the latter for their inability to dismantle India-centric extremist groups. Journalists routinely use 'reliable sources' to report on important issues, though employing discretion to decide whether or not the 'reliable sources' have some ulterior motive. In the present instance, the story revealed nothing new, what touched a raw nerve was its accusatory angle. The affected party thinks the leak, implant, security breach or whatever was purposely aimed at making the civilian leaders look as the good guys and the soldiers bad boys in the eyes of Pakistan's detractors. It is hardly surprising if that has upset the 'bad boys'. Nor if they want to publicly name and shame whosoever was behind it.
There is a general curiosity, too, to know who did it. The more the government puts up resistance to naming the person the more it lends credence to the suspicion it has something to hide. Clearly, there is more to it than what has been on display. At the start Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid was sacked, which raised the question if the government had nothing to do with the 'leak' why remove the minister? That did not help. Subsequently, last November an inquiry committee was formed. Five months on, the PM House refuses to make public its findings, deciding instead to issue a notification firing two more people, Principal Information Officer Rao Tehseen and Foreign Affairs Adviser Tariq Fatemi. Both gentlemen are unwilling to become the fall guys. Tehseen is said to grumble it was not part of his job to prevent publication of any story, and has decided to challenge the action against him in a court of law. Fatemi would not accept the responsibility, either. In a lengthy farewell letter to his Foreign Office colleagues he pointed out that while serving Pakistan in his five-decade long career he "had to deal with many sensitive matters, becoming privy to some of the most highly classified information on issues of national security", suggesting thereby that he would be the last person to 'leak' any sensitive information.
The Army of course is not pleased, and has said so via the DG ISPR tweet, "the notification on Dawn Leak is incomplete and not in line with recommendations by the Inquiry Board. Notification is rejected." Some have objected to the use of the word "rejected" arguing that as an organisation subservient to the executive, the Army could not reject the decisions of its higher civilian authority. But what if that authority itself was suspected of breaking the relevant secrecy rules? It is worthwhile to note in the context US President Trump's denial of an alleged collusion between his campaign and Russia, and his associates telling the Russian Ambassador in post-election meetings that sanctions on his country could be lifted. Rather than to accept his word, the FBI, a government agency, has launched a criminal investigation into suggestions any such collusion took place. The problem here is that the agencies expected to check excesses by the high and mighty of the land, as the Panamagate amply demonstrated, are firmly under government control.
Suspicion and doubt in the present case are directed at the Prime Minister's daughter and heir apparent Maryam Nawaz who heads an information cell located at the PM House, which on an earlier occasion was caught disclosing in real time on TV the proceedings of a sensitive closed-door meeting. The lady the PM wants, in royal dynastic fashion, to succeed him in due time, has repeatedly shown her lack of understanding how the system works, let alone how the world works. Confirming that she is completely out of touch with reality are her latest tweets on the Panama Papers. She began with an attempt to mock "The misery of journalists who broke the Panama story is understandable. Their overt & covert efforts to bring the government down came to a [sic] naught." That prompted German journalist Bastian Obermayer, a member of the International Consortium of Journalists which won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for breaking the Panama scandal, to respond: "It's about telling the truth. Like it or not. [It] isn't about Pakistan, by the way." She came back with the incredible claim "Panama Papers were never about corruption. Even the stealers & hackers didn't say it was. Losers in imminent danger." And got the answer "Sorry to tell you: # Panama Papers are about # corruption. We found an astonishing number of corruption cases in the documents-and all real." In yet another absurd tweet, she came out to malign all journalists: "Don't want to say much abt nexus bet you & your Pak counterparts against Pak." This went on in the wake of the Supreme Court's Panama case judgement setting up a JIT to complete corruption investigations against the PM and his family.
A mind like that will not get her where she and her father want her to be. The lady in her present role is a liability for the Prime Minister; the sooner he understands that the better for him. Instead of digging in his heels, he would be wise to release the inquiry committee report in full, putting at rest the controversy it has created.
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