Who fed story to Cyril Almeida of Dawn?
Name of Cyril Almeida removes from Exit Control List (ECL)
Rawalpindi, Pakistan: Pakistan Army has yet to find who fed news to Cyril Almeida of Dawn newspaper that accused Army to harbour regional terrorists.
However, Army has expressed serious concern over the feeding the news to media.
Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) of Pakistan Army has said in a statement that leadership of Pakistan Army expressed serious concern over feeding of false and fabricated story to media.
However, ISPR did not indicate who fed the news from Prime Minister House to the media. The statement was issued after the conference of Corp Commanders of the country.
Meanwhile, on Friday evening that name of Cyril Almeida was removed from Exit Control List (ECL) after the meeting of Interior Minister Ch. Nisar with members of national body of newspapers.
According to ISPR, the Corps Commander’s Conference that was held at General Headquarters of Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi on Friday expressed serious concern over feeding of false and fabricated story to media.
The story is related with conversation that claiming by reporter took place in a National Action Plan (NAP) meeting held at the Prime Minister House in Islamabad on October 6, 2016.
The story written by Cyril Almeida and published in daily Dawn newspaper claimed that hot words were exchanged between the political team of Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif and the Chief of supreme intelligence agency Inter Service Intelligence (ISI).
Story claimed that political leadership blamed Pakistan Army for keeping non state actors involved in terrorism in the region.
Writer in his story indicated that no one from his sources was ready to accept his version of the story on the record and none of the attributed statements were confirmed by the individuals mentioned. He stated in his story:
“The following account is based on conversations with Dawn of individuals present in the crucial meetings this week. All declined to speak on the record and none of the attributed statements were confirmed by the individuals mentioned”.
The name of Cyril Almeida was placed on Exit Control List (ECL) when he was planning to leave country for his vacations to Dubai. National and international media reacted sharply over putting the name of Cyril Almeida on ECL while pro-army media persons supported the decision of putting Cyril Almeida on ECL and alleged that Cyril was working against the country.
Federal government constituted a committee headed by Federal minister Zahid Hamid to investigate who planted the story to reporter but Cyril refused to meet the committee.
Interior Minister Ch. Nisar held a press briefing on Thursday and indicated that detail report would be shared soon about who fed the story to reporter and what were motives behind the story that according to government had damaged the reputation of Pakistan Army.
“Dawn group of publication is an international and oldest media house in Pakistan enjoying professional credibility but this story has placed Dawn credibility at question”, claimed a senior journalist when asked to comment over the situation. He added that state had a right to investigate a story against the state but investigation must not work as tool to harass journalist or media house.
