Fatemi rejects involvement in Dawn Leaks in farewell letter

In a farewell letter addressed to his colleagues at the Foreign Office, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's special assistant on foreign affairs Tariq Fatemi has rejected all allegations leveled against him in connection with the Dawn leaks.

In his letter, Fatemi declared that all these allegations were false and baseless, days after his removal from the post.

The Express Tribune quoted Fatemi, as saying that, "Such allegations are particularly hurtful to someone who has served Pakistan for nearly five decades with honour and integrity."

Sharif had sacked Fatemi on Saturday after an inquiry committee constituted to probe the controversy surrounding a report by Dawn about a key meeting on national security, recommended the adviser's removal over charges of leaking the report to the newspaper without due permission.

In the controversial story attributed to unnamed sources, Dawn correspondent Cyril Almeida had reported that in a high-level meeting on national security held on October 3 last year, the civilian leaders had spoken about the 'growing diplomatic isolation' of Pakistan for lack of action against some militant groups.

Reportedly the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general was present in the meeting attended by a number of functionaries, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif.

The news report had whipped up a storm and while the federal government had repeatedly denied it as 'fabricated and planted', the top army brass had called it a breach of trust on national security.