ISLAMABAD - Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that the absence of former information minister Pervaiz Rasheed’s name in the notification issued by the Prime Minister Office on the implementation of Inquiry Committee Report on Dawn Leaks was a major cause of confrontation between the civilian and the military leadership.

The minister gave these remarks in his Tuesday’s meeting with the representatives of All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) and Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) here.

According to the information gathered by The Nation from different sources, Chaudhry Nisar told the meeting that military leadership had a major objection that Pervaiz Rasheed’s name was not mentioned in the April 29 notification issued by the Prime Minister office and had the impression perhaps he was being given a clean chit and again notified as federal minister. This wrong impression became the major cause of soaring relations between the army and the civilian leadership and the former through the tweet had rejected the notification.

Director General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor through a tweet had rejected the April 29 notification of the Prime Minister Office saying that it was not in line with the recommendations of the inquiry committee formed to probe the Dawn leaks issue.

The matter was resolved when army was assured that Pervaiz Rasheed was not being given a clean chit, the minister told the participants.

He added that the government wanted from the army to at least express regret over the tweet but the matter was resolved with the withdrawal of the tweet.

On May 10, the ISPR director general announced that the matter of Dawn leaks was settled now and the “controversial” tweet was being withdrawn.

The interior ministry, the same day, issued another notification that also included the remarks that Pervaiz Rasheed had already been removed from his office as part of the implementation of the inquiry committee.

Kazim Khan, managing director Daily Times, who was part of the meeting told the Nation, while quoting interior minister said that Pervaiz Rasheed had denied his presence about a security meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office when he was asked by the inquiry committee itself.

Later, the official record of the meeting showed that Rasheed was a participant of the meeting.

And this thing had surprised everyone within government circles.

Chaudhry Nisar also told the participants of the media representative bodies that PML-N Senator Pervaiz Rasheed had told the inquiry committee that Cyril Almeida had told him about the exact discussion of the security meeting to get a version on it.

Rasheed said that he was shocked as to how he had the exact details of the discussion, Kazim Khan said quoting Chaudhry Nisar.

The minister also informed the meeting that the government had no intention of making the Dawn leaks inquiry report public.