ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar said that there was complete consensus on the Dawn leaks inquiry report as the issue has been resolved now.
Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, he said the Dawn Leaks Inquiry Committee Report was a consensus document, but “an image of a conflict [between state institutions] was unnecessarily created in the media.” He urged not to play politics on civil-military issues, saying the Dawn Leaks inquiry report should not have been made controversial.
“Civil-military relations should not be turned into a circus. Civil military relations is a sensitive subject, not just in Pakistan but in the rest of the world as well. Civil-military relations are not politicised anywhere in the world but in Pakistan” he said. Without taking names, the interior minister criticised a certain retired army general’s comments on television regarding the issue, saying “some retired officials mistakenly consider themselves spokespersons of the army”.
Nisar Ali Khan said that inquiry team has taken the decision on the basis of concrete evidence.
Setting aside notion regarding someone saved, he said “If the government wanted to hide something, it wouldn’t have made two committees and a big commission,” Nisar claimed. Dawn leaks was not such big issue but some elements intentionally made it big issue. “The report is being implemented with letter and spirit,” Nisar said adding that the civil military ties should be observed in national context rather political.
Chaudhary Nisar came under volley of questions from journalists on which he said, “When questions have taken 20 minutes the answers need one hour.” The government had formed a committee in November last year to probe the October 6, 2016 story, which reported the details of a high-level civil-military meeting discussing the issue of banned outfits operating in Pakistan.
The committee subsequently initiated an inquiry to identify the persons responsible for disclosing the details of the meeting to Cyril Almeida, who wrote the story.
Earlier, during his press conference, Nisar said a large number of people involved in human trafficking are concentrated in Gujranwala Division. “The interior ministry has worked on catching many human smugglers during the past one and a half years,” he said while talking to the media in Islamabad. “We will be blocking passports of those accused who have fled the country.”
The interior minister also spoke about the issue of blocked computerised national identity cards.
“The people whose CNICs were blocked also included Pakistanis, mostly those who did not have proper supporting documents,” he maintained. “But we had to find a solution.”
Out of the CNICs against which action was taken, 156,000 have been blocked temporarily. “If these cardholders have a proof to support their nationality, their CNICs will be permanently unblocked.”
He added if a person is suspected with regard to their CNIC, they would be given a chance to prove themselves right. Moreover, the interior minister also spoke about tourism in Gilgit Baltistan, saying people wanting to visit the region for tourism purposes will no more be needing a no objection certification (NOC) and a notification in this regard will soon be issued.
“The NOCs have been compulsory since the past year and a half, but it would no longer be needed by tourists so that tourism in GB flourishes,” Chaudhry Nisar said. “However] diplomats, research workers and project related foreigners will be needing security clearance.” He added this was decided at a meeting. GB Chief Minister Hafeez-ur-Rehman was also spoken to on the matter over the phone.
INP