ISLAMABAD - Former Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi, who was removed from office for his alleged role in Dawn leaks, has rejected all the allegations levelled against him in the inquiry committee report as baseless.

Fatemi who was removed after the inquiry committee’s probe report was submitted to the prime minister wrote a farewell letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, saying the allegations had hurt him.

“I reject the recent allegations, insinuations and innuendoes,” he wrote, adding such suggestions are particularly hurtful to someone who has served Pakistan for nearly five decades with honour and dignity.

In his letter, he assured the prime minister that he was ready for any kind of cooperation in investigation into the leaks.

It is to be mentioned here that the Prime Minister’s Office on Saturday issued directives to remove Syed Tariq Fatemi from his post for his alleged role in Dawn leaks.

The directive came after an inquiry committee probing a story published by Dawn on October 6, 2016, submitted its findings in a report to PM Nawaz Sharif.

Notably, Saturday’s statement from the PM’s Office did not mention why action was ordered against Fatemi. The PM’s Office also said it recommended referring Dawn to All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) for “necessary disciplinary action”, but did not say what the charges were against the Dawn editor or journalist Cyril Almeida who wrote the story.

The APNS has additionally been asked to develop a code of conduct for print media, especially when it comes to stories that deal with issues of national importance and security.

But hours after the prime minister’s office, Inter-Services Public Relations said the army had rejected the notification, calling it incomplete.

ISPR Director General Asif Ghafoor who heads the military’s media arm said in a tweet: “Notification on Dawn leaks is incomplete and not in line with the recommendations by the inquiry board, so it is rejected.”