Cyril Almeida (Urdu: سائیرل المیڈا) is a Pakistani journalist who served as the assistant editor and columnist for Dawn.

[5] However, after three days of criticism by media and human rights groups, his name was lifted from the exit control list on 14 October 2016.

[6][7] Almeida belongs to a community of Goan Catholics who migrated to Karachi, British India, more than a hundred years ago.

[11] In October 2016, Dawn published a front-page article by Almeida, which said that some in Pakistan's civilian government confronted military officials at a top-secret National Security Committee meeting.

They said that they were being asked to do more to crack down on armed groups, yet, whenever law-enforcement agencies took action, "the security establishment ... worked behind the scenes to set the arrested free".

[20] Military sources said that they were not angry with Almeida but they were worried about government officials leaking details of the meeting.

[22] In September 2018, Azhar Siddiqui, a lawyer, petitioned the Lahore High Court, accusing Nawaz Sharif and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi of treason.

He alleged that Abbasi had leaked the minutes of the National Security Council to Sharif, whose statement contained such information.