Nawaz Sharif's decision to sack aide Tariq Fatemi is 'incomplete' action, says Army

ISLAMABAD: In an unusual move, Pakistan’s powerful army on Saturday "rejected" PM Nawaz Sharif’s decision to sack his trusted aide Tariq Fatemi for "leaking" information to the media, saying his action is "incomplete".

Sharif approved an inquiry committee’s recommendation to remove Fatemi, the special assistant on foreign affairs, from his post after he was found guilty of "leaking" information to the media about a rift between Pakistan’s civilian and military leaderships at a high-level security meet.

Hours after the Prime Minister’s Office issued the directive, the Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the armed forces, said the army had rejected the notification, calling it "incomplete". "Notification on Dawn leak is incomplete and not in line with recommendations by the inquiry board," military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted.

In October, a columnist for Dawn newspaper wrote a front-page story about a rift between civilian and military leaderships over militant groups that operate from Pakistan but engage in proxy war against India and Afghanistan.

The army took exception to the story and relations between army and the government deteriorated. The government was forced to remove then information minister Pervaiz Rasheed but a probe was also initiated at the demand of army to fix responsibility.

The report was submitted to Sharif this week. According to it, Fatemi was primarily responsible for leaking the report of the meeting. Analysts have termed the differences as detrimental to the civil-military relationship.