Terrorists trying to divide Pakistan; persecute easy targets; new policy on arms licenses, private security companies and retrofitting/importing bullet proof car in coming weeks
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that decision for operation against terrorists in Karachi was taken by the political parties with consensus on the demand of MQM. He said it was agreed that action against criminals will be across the board and there would be no political interference.
Replying to questions raised by MQM MNA Asif Hasnain in the National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior meeting here on Monday, the Minister assured that MQM’s concern about operation will be looked into and provincial government will also be consulted. He made it clear that the government does not want to corner any political party.
He said nose around terrorists has been tightened and they are now attacking soft targets like mosques, imambargahs and churches. He pointed out that against six to eight blasts were daily routine when the present government took over but now there is lot of improvement but pointed, however, he said that war against terrorism is not easy which was imposed on Pakistan 13 years back. He said the agenda of terrorist is to divide Pakistan and those taking law in their own hand after incidents of terrorism were advancing their agenda.
Explaining the improvement in Ministry of Interior’s performance, Nisar said that several files on sensitive were missing and three persons who were deported to Pakistan under exchange of offenders, agreement from Britain were set free in collaboration with officials of Interior Ministry and the police. He said three persons with 18, 19 and 20 years imprisonment sentence on murder and drug charges were deported in 2012 and released within two months. When the matter was brought to his notice, he got the issue investigated. One was arrested in Pakistan, the other in Dubai and third in Ecuador. He said they will be extradited to Pakistan and the Section Officer of Interior Ministry and Police Inspector behind the release are in jail.
Nisar said because of such incidents, he has pended the exchange of offenders agreements till a fresh policy is announced. He said he also put a ban on meeting of officials of the Interior Ministry with diplomats.
The Minister said thousands of security personnel were on security duty with people who did not quality for it. They have been withdrawn as they cannot be deployed for guard duty which is job of police.
Nisar said that he has sent back a contingent of as many as 22 Rangers personnel appointed for his protection. The ministry would not provide extra security to anybody but Prime Minister (PM) and the President, he added. Nisar said that the duty of the civil armed forced is to protect the country and not personalities.
The Minister said not a single person has been placed on ECL list since the present government took over. He said names of only those people would be put on ECL which will be recommended by NAB, FIA, Supreme and High Courts.
He also made it clear that the government has not given a single name for phone taping by the ISI and Intelligence Bureau.
About passports, the Minister said on coming to power, they cleared the backlog of five lakh passports in two and a half months and the capacity of the department has been increased from 20 lakh to 40 lakh passports.
He said another 72 passport office would be issued at the district level in addition to the present strength of 97. He said the Passport office earned Rs 32 billion in one and a half year. The validity of passport has been extended from five to ten years, urgent passport are provided in four days and regular in eight days.
Nisar said that the issuance of E-passports would soon be started. He urged the people of the country to help him in putting an end to the VIP culture in the country.
He said NADRA was facing loss of Rs 1.5 billion when the present government took over and during the first year of the government it earned Rs 1.3 billion and Rs .5 billion profit is expected this year.
About biometric of SIMs, he said of 130 million, 100 million SIMs have been verified andmade it clear that 12th April is the last date for verification and there will be no extension. He said now Afghanistan and Pakistani SIMs cannot be used in other country and this would help in checking crimes and acts of terrorism.
The interior Minister said in 2012-13 FIA recovered Rs 34 crore on account of corruption and in the first year of PML-N government, it recovered more than Rs. 6.5 billion.
He said the government cancelled two thousand official passports which included sons and servants of VIPs. He said such passports were also used for human smuggling.
He said Islamabad traffic police is free to challan those violating traffic rules. He said the police challaned 1262 people including Chief Minister, Judges and inservice Generals on violation of traffic rules as compared to only seven challans in the last year of PPP government.
Nisar said that 70,000 prohibited bore licences were issued by the previous government and of them more than 2000 were completely fake as some people were not traceable while NICs of others were fake. He said the government imposed immediate ban on new licenses. He said a section officer of the Ministry has been imprisoned for issuing fake arms licenses.
He said a new policy about arms licenses, private security companies and import of bullet proof cars will be announced in the next few weeks. He said hundreds of private security companies were given licenses. Guards of some of these agencies are not trained and they do not have arms. In addition there is no security check of the security guards of these companies. In this connection he referred to the case of a guard who killed his owners in Lahore and said the guard was facing a murder case earlier.
On the occasion, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) member of the standing committee Asif Husnain urged the Interior Minister to form a commission to investigate the Nine-Zero incident. He said that the phone calls of the Sindh Assembly members are still being taped. He said that the prevailing condition of Karachi is quite serious. Husnain also said that the appointments in National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and other government institutions are not being done on merit. He urged the government to take stern action against anyone who violates law.
INP