The leak in the Pakistani media about the differences that surfaced between the civilian government and the military leadership during a high-level security meet in October last year in the wake of surgical strikes by India has cost a trusted lieutenant of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif his job.

Mr Syed Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs to Mr Sharif, was on Saturday removed from his post for his alleged role in the leak in the Dawn, a leading newspaper, on 6 October 2016, after an inquiry committee submitted its findings to the Pakistani Premier. His removal is being considered another blow to the beleaguered Prime Minister, who is already facing intense heat from the Opposition over the Panama leaks.

But the Pakistan Army rejected the action taken by the government, calling it incomplete. ‘’Notification on Dawn leak is incomplete and not in line with recommendations of the Inquiry Board. Notification is rejected,’’ Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, spokesperson of the Inter-Services Press Relations (ISPR) tweeted.

The committee held that Mr Fatemi was primarily responsible for leaking the details of the meeting held on 3 October to the Dawn journalist in which the civilian leadership had reportedly spoken about the growing diplomatic isolation of Pakistan for lack of action against some militant groups. Reportedly, the ISI Director General was also present in the meeting, presided over by the Premier. It also reportedly witnessed differences between the civilian and the army leaderships over the activities of militant groups that operate from the Pakistan territory.

India conducted surgical strikes on terrorist launch pads in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) on 29 September 2016, 11 days after a pre-dawn attack by Pakistan-based militant groups on an army brigade headquarters in Uri in which 18 soldiers were killed. Pakistan, which was caught unawares, denied that any surgical strikes were conducted on its territory by India but quietly started preparing itself for any such action by Indian forces again. The high-level security meet was part of that exercise.

Notably, Saturday's order from the Pakistan PM's Office did not mention in clear terms why action has been ordered against Fatemi. Additionally, it read that action would be taken against Rao Tehsin Ali, Principal Information Officer of the Ministry of Information, on charges levelled against him in the committee's report.

The PM's Office also referred Dawn to the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) for "necessary disciplinary action", but did not say what the charges against Editor Dawn or journalist Cyril Almeida ~ who wrote the story ~ were. The APNS would also be asked to develop a Code of Conduct for print media to ensure that stories on issues of national importance and security were published by abiding to basic journalistic and editorial norms.