AMN
A senior journalist for Pakistan prominet newpaper Cyril Almeida has been put on Pakistan’s Exit Control List for writing his special stroy confirming long suspected rumours of a rift between the country’s civilian and military leaderships.
The Exit Control List is a system of border control maintained by the Pakistan government under an ordinance which allows it to bar people whose names appear on the list from leaving the country.
Cyril Almeida, Dawn’s assistant editor, pointed via Twitter on Tuesday to his name’s appearance on the list.
The Pakistani authorities have yet to comment on the development.
In the October 6 exclusive news report, Almeida said some in the civilian government complained at a top-secret meeting that they were being asked to do more to crack down on armed groups, yet whenever law-enforcement agencies took action “the security establishment … worked behind the scenes to set the arrested free”.
cyril almeida Puzzled, saddened. Had no intention of going anywhere; this is my home. Pakistan.
I am told and have been informed and have been shown evidence that I am on the Exit Control List.
Najam Sethi Civ-Mil Estab has given the international media a bigger story by stupidly targeting Cyril/Dawn. Media must stand by @cyalm and @dawn_com.
Almeida’s scoop came against a backdrop of heightened tension in the region following a claim by the Indian government of a cross-border “surgical strike” by army commandos on September 18, apparently in response to a deadly assault on an army post in Indian-administered Kashmir.
India blames Pakistan-based armed groups for the attack, a charge denied by the Pakistani government led by Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister.
The report said that the arguments made by the foreign secretary and the Punjab chief minister during the meeting in the prime minister’s offices were designed to trigger a debate with the military leadership.
A spokesman for the Pakistani Prime Minister’s Office later disputed Almeida’s account, labelling it “not only speculative but misleading and factually incorrect” and describing it as an “amalgamation of fiction and fabrication”.
A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said that participants at a meeting of the top civilian and military leadership on Monday expressed concern over the publication of what it termed as a “fabricated news story” pertaining to security issues purportedly discussed in a meeting of the National Security Committee.