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Thursday, August 22, 2013
Interior minister rebuffs claims of state failureBy Ijaz Kakakhel
ISLAMABAD: In response to the three-hour-long debate over the August 15 incident in the federal capital, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Wednesday said the opposition raised 17 questions over a single incident, but he could raise hundreds of questions over the last five- and eight-year tenures of the previous two governments.
The minister said that he was satisfied with the fact that no one was harmed in the Islamabad standoff involving the accused, Sikandar, who was still alive and now in police custody. He said that information was being extracted from the detained accused.
Reacting to the criticism mainly from the opposition parties on his role during the standoff in the capital, the interior minister derogatorily said that the episode did not go on for five hours, “rather it still continues”.
“The matter must not be stretched so much that even a good deed of someone starts to look bad,” he said. He said that the government was committed to presenting the national security plan soon through the all-parties conference.
“Don’t raise the status of Zamrud Khan to that of a pir (religious leader) as you did in the case of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,” he said.
However, he admitted that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a great politician. He said that the government stood by security agencies, and urged the opposition not to make Zamrud Khan controversial.
He said that during the three-hour debate over the adjournment motion of PPP leader Mian Raza Rabbai over the Islamabad incident, the opposition members demanded his resignation, and also attacked him personally.
He regretted how the opposition members could say the state had failed just by pointing at one incident, which was under full control of the law enforcement agencies.
“Who allowed you to criticise the state of Pakistan?” he questioned.
“Just on the two-month [performance of the] government, the opposition raises 17 questions. Who will respond to my question on the performance of the last five years of the government during which the then sitting minister, the Kazakhstan envoy and others were killed, and still it was not termed a state failure?”
He said that during the previous government’s tenure, 8,514 major terror incidents took place, in which around 9,600 people died and more than 25,000 were wounded. “The GHQ, Mehran Base, Kamra and Abbottabad incidents took place during the previous government’s tenure, but we never criticised the government; rather provided proper support.” He said there was no contradiction in his statements. “Initially, according to the available information, I was told that the accused had no criminal record, but later, after collecting some information, there was a suspicion that he may have some militant connections. During initial investigation, the accused gave some names of international ‘monsters’, but it will be clarified after getting complete information from him.”
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk