In an indication of soaring relationship between Pakistan's civilian government and its powerful military, the Army on Saturday "rejected" Prime Minister 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 during a high-level security meet.
The army demanded full implementation of recommendations by a committee which probed a Dawn story on the rift between the army and the government.
Hours after the Prime Minister's Office issued the directive, the Inter-Services Public Relations 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. Notification is rejected," military spokesman Major Gen Asif Ghafoor tweeted.
Sharif govt hits back after Army rejects notification, says Twitter reactions 'highly dangerous'
The Sharif government was quick to go in damage control mode after confrontation with the army over a "notification" and announced that "real notification" to implement the recommendation of probe was yet to be issued.
Minutes after the ISPR tweet, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in veiled criticism of the hasty reaction by the army said, "Twitter reactions were highly dangerous for the country."
"There are several issues of great importance and it's unfortunate that they are being dealt with through tweets. State institutions don't communicate with each other through tweets," Khan said.
He asserted that no notification was issued as yet.
"What is being referred as notification by PM House is for the interior ministry which will issue a detailed proper notification to implement the recommendation of the probe. And I reiterate that no one would be spared and the findings will be implemented in letter and spirit," he said.
He, however, wondered why a storm was created when there was no basis for it.
"It was only a reference issued in lieu of the briefing given to the prime minister," the minister told reporters at a press conference in Karachi.
He said the interior ministry would issue a notification in line with the recommendations of the inquiry board.
His statement was believed to be an effort to deflect the criticism by experts and Opposition after the army rejected the letter by the Prime Minister to sack Fatemi.
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 strong exception to the Dawn story and relations between army and the civil government deteriorated.
The PML-N government was forced to remove then information minister Pervaiz Rasheed but a probe was also initiated at the demand of army to fix the responsibility. The report was submitted to the prime minister this week.
According to the inquiry report, Fatemi was primarily responsible for leaking the report of the key meeting, and Sharif took action against him.
Analysts have termed the cropping of differences as detrimental to the civil-military relationship.
"The government should move fast to address the grievances of the army and fully implement the findings of the report," former Air Marshal Shehzad Chaudhry told Geo TV.
(With PTI inputs)
