Govt protecting key figures behind Dawnleaks, claim opposition legislators

LAHORE: As the Dawn Leaks’ report surfaced, a quarrel has broke out between  government and opposition benches in Punjab Assembly over revelations of names who were held responsible in leaking sensitive information  to an English newspaper here on Wednesday, ARY News reported.

After the ruling party’s recognition of Dawnleaks report, the opposition lawmakers in Punjab Assembly accused the government of safeguarding Maryam Nawaz, daughter of the premier, allegedly the key suspect behind leaking sensitive information to an English daily.

“The government is protecting the key figures behind the Dawnleaks scandal by design”, alleged Deputy Opposition Leader Sibtain Khan.

He alleged that government was trying to exclude Maryam Nawaz’s name from the scandal.

However, Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that opposition legislators were trying to build pressure on the investigative committee probing the scandal by rejecting all allegations.

The law minister termed the opposition claims ‘baseless’ and said that allegations being hurled to affect the investigation process.

Despite, the standoff between opposition and the ruling party lawmakers over the people responsible for the leak, the house unanimously declared leaking of sensitive information as breach of national security and strengthening anti-state elements.

It is pertinent to mention here that the government accepted the report and likely to dismiss Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi as well as Principal Information Officer (PIO) Rao Tehseen, implicating both officials in leaking the sensitive information.