Republished October 14, 2016 - 8:01 AM
Original Publication Date October 14, 2016 - 7:10 AM
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has lifted a travel ban imposed on a prominent journalist after he published what the government called a fabricated story about a high level security meeting, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said Friday.
Rashid said the decision to lift the ban on Cyril Almeida was taken after the interior and information ministers met with the country's Council of Newspaper Editors and All Pakistan News Papers Society.
Almeida's article, published on the front page of the Dawn daily newspaper last week, cited unnamed officials suggesting Pakistan's civilian and military leadership were divided on how to tackle Islamic militants.
Civil-military relations are a taboo subject in Pakistan, which has a long history of military coups.
The government has ordered an inquiry for legal action against those responsible for the story.
The country's all powerful army also expressed concern over the issue.
The corps commander conference, a regular meeting of top military officials, held at army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi expressed serious concern Friday over what it said was the "feeding of a false and fabricated" story of an important security meeting held at the prime minister's house. The military statement issued after the conference said it viewed it as a "breach of national security."
News from © The Associated Press, 2016