Nisar asks retired officers to speak with caution

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan urged retired military officials on Wednesday to be careful in issuing statements and said that people privy to important national decisions should exercise restraint.

Stressing the importance of maintaining confidentiality, the minister said in a statement that a slight slip of tongue could play havoc in this media age. He said that exercising discretion was in the interest of the country because unity was important at this critical juncture.

Former DG ISPR Maj Gen (r) Athar Abbas says he made his remarks in response to a question

The minister also asked the media to avoid making recent remarks of a former military spokesman a topic of discussions.

Meanwhile, former director general of Inter-Services Public Relations, retired Maj Gen Athar Abbas, said he had made his remarks about military operation in response to a question. Speaking at a seminar, he was optimistic that major cities would be ‘cleared’ of militants in a month.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2014

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Comments (5) Closed

Ahmed

Jul 03, 2014 10:05am

Nisar obviously would prefer that the truth be hidden. Nor does he have any understanding of the concept of freedom of speech.

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Mohammad Akhtar

Jul 03, 2014 10:32am

There should be a freedom of speech. No body can tell/ order some one not to speak the truth. If Kiyani did some thing wrong people have the right to know. There should not be any threats against the freedom of speech.

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khanm

Jul 03, 2014 10:48am

practice what you preach please...media should always be free. i would say if government is scared of any thing that would be the media and not the public...

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Abassin

Jul 03, 2014 12:20pm

Chaudhry Nisar is right in asking former high ranking military officers to exercise caution when talking about the decisions of national importance, taken during their time in the office. It is true these people know a lot and as such may have a sense of self importance, even though they may not have been the decision makers, but mere witnesses. The problem is that in the age of media, people cannot resist making unguarded and unsubstantiated comments when a mike is thrust in front of them, particularly when looking for a post retirement career-which in their opinion was ended prematurely.The minister is right in reminding them that with the authority of the high office comes the responsibility of restraint of thought and action.

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saeed

Jul 03, 2014 02:46pm

agreed with minister's comment. Freedom of speech should be there but sense of responsibility should prevail. I don't know what the retired official is trying to achieve by blaming his general for delays, if any for action. Any army needs lot of ground and govt support before such actions are launched. given the credentials of last govt I don't think he would be getting that. Lets see how long this govt and media continues to support the operation.

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