ISLAMABAD: The spok­es­­man for Prime Minister Office on Thursday denied a story appearing in Dawn on Oct 6 regarding “purported deliberations” of a meeting held on security issues.

The spokesman termed contents of the story not only speculative but misleading and factually incorrect, describing it as an “amalgamation of fiction and fabrication”.

Dispelling the impression created by the report, headlined “Act against militants or face international isolation, civilians tell military”, he said that intelligence agencies, particularly the ISI, are working in line with the state policy in the best interest of the nation, both at the federal and provincial levels to act against terrorists of all hue and colour without any discrimination. Indeed the Army’s and ISI’s role and contributions towards implementation of NAP have been proactive and unwavering, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the office of the chief minister of Punjab also denied the comments attributed to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in the news story.

Dismissing it as a baseless table story, he emphasised that besides his respect for the institution of the armed forces, on an individual level he also had the highest respect for the present ISI DG for his professionalism, commitment to duty and sincerity of purpose.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2016