Pakistan govt defends travel ban on leading journalist

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government on Thursday defended its decision to place a travel ban on a prominent journalist over an article he wrote about an alleged rift

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government on Thursday defended its decision to place a travel ban on a prominent journalist over an article he wrote about an alleged rift between the country’s powerful military and its government.

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Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan told reporters that Cyril Almeida would not be allowed to leave the country until the completion of a government committee’s inquiry into the story, which authorities have repeatedly denied.

The committee would decide if anyone was to be prosecuted in relation to the story.

Almeida, a leading columnist and assistant editor at one of Pakistan’s most respected English language dailies, filed a story on October 6 that gave an account of a tense, high-level security meeting between civilian and government officials.

Quoting anonymous sources, the story said civilian government officials called for the military not to interfere if law enforcement authorities tried to arrest members of anti-India militant groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The government has issued three denials of the story, and on Thursday Khan reiterated them.

Almeida’s newspaper Dawn stands by the story, saying it was verified with multiple sources.

The government placed a travel ban on Almeida late on Monday.