ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has issued direction for withdrawal of portfolio of Syed Tariq Fatemi, PM's special assistant, besides proceedings against Rao Tehsin Ali, principal information officer of the Ministry of Information, under the Inquiry Committee's recommendations over the Dawn planted story.
The Prime Minister issued direction after according his approval to the recommendations, contained in a report of the Inquiry Committee, tasked to deal with the planted story issue in the Dawn daily on October 6, 2016.
According to the official notification on Saturday, the Prime Minister, after having considered the findings of the Committee as to its terms of reference, approved its recommendations in para 18 of the report.
The concerned ministries and divisions were directed to take necessary action accordingly.
The direction for issuance of a necessary notification to withdraw Fatemi's portfolio was also made. Similarly, proceedings against Rao Tehsin Ali, PIO, would be conducted under the E&D Rules 1973 on the charges based on the findings of the report.
The role of daily Dawn/Zafar Abbas/Cyril Almeida in the instant matter would be referred to All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) for necessary disciplinary action to be taken against them.
The APNS would be asked to develop a Code of Conduct for the print media, especially when dealing with the issues relating to security of Pakistan and to ensure that stories on the issues of national importance and security are published by abiding to the basic journalistic and editorial norms, it said. (APP)