News
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Nisar stuns nation with ‘facts’ about capital gunman drama* Interior minister tells NA some local as well as international handlers are behind this incident
By Tanveer Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Monday unveiled the startling revelations about the central character of Islamabad incident, Sikandar, when he told the National Assembly that some local and international handlers were behind this incident.
Responding to the opposition’s criticism for mismanagement of the incident, Nisar said that the matter was not as simple as initially perceived because investigation into the incident exposed international connections, with some traces leading to Abu Dhabi.
However, he clarified that he did not mean the Abu Dhabi government, and said that some alarming facts had come to light after investigating the case.
Nisar told the House that after interrogation, it had been learnt that Sikandar was not alone in his action, and that local and international handlers were involved.
“There were some handlers of the gunman and the episode was leading the probe agencies to Abu Dhabi and some other figures whose name could not be revealed at this stage,” he added.
He, however, offered that he could inform the parliamentary heads about the investigation.
He disclosed that some arrests in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab had been made in connection with the Islamabad incident.
Nisar said that a man had been arrested in Azad Kashmir, while two others were held in Hafizabad and Pasrur, Punjab. One of those arrested was a policeman, the House was told.
The minister said a religious personality from Hafizabad had also been arrested, and police were interrogating him. “The literature recovered from this religious personality is alarming,” Nisar said. “Two arms dealers have also been arrested from Pasrur, who have admitted to selling two guns to Sikandar,” he said.
Nisar sounded critical over the role of the media while covering the Islamabad incident, and urged media persons to observe the code of conduct while covering such events.
Responding to criticism over the security policy, he informed the House that the government would bring its security policy shortly, and even offered the opposition to constitute a parliamentary committee on the issue.
“I am ready to delegate powers to such a committee in order to resolve the security situation,” he said. However, he called upon the opposition not to distort facts while speaking on security issues.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk