Interior Minister Rehman Malik Saturday said Pakistan is a sovereign state and the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is neither conducting any operation inside the country nor it will be allowed to do so in future.
Talking to media outside the Parliament House, Malik termed the reports about deletion of Saleem Shahzad’s mobile phone data as wrong and said a commission had been formed to probe into his killing. To a question, he replied that the new IG Islamabad Police would soon be appointed.
He said the law enforcing agencies were conducting operation against the illegal immigrants, adding that some people living in Pakistan despite expiry of their visa had also been deported. The minister asked media not to criticise the performance and capacity of law enforcing agencies which played a vital role in protecting life and property of citizens against terrorists and were fighting for the survival of the country.
He said the role of law enforcing and intelligence agencies in maintaining law and order situation particularly in Karachi was appreciable. He also praised the services of former DG Sindh Rangers and his force in curbing targeted killings in Karachi. Malik said it would be unfair to blame the whole Rangers force for an individual’s act, adding that a specific incident could not be set as a criterion to judge the performance of the law enforcers.
But he admitted that they must have to work within the prescribed rules and regulations. He said that had the intelligence and law enforcing agencies not been there, more incidents of terrorist acts could have taken place in the country. He urged the people to stand by the national security agencies, adding that criticising them without any evidence was unjustified.
The minister told the media men that he had asked the Rangers to work with dedication and keep their morale high. Malik said he could cite more than 1,000 which spoke of the valour of law enforcing officials, adding that criminals had targeted 48 police officials during the last five months and media should present them as the heroes of the nation.
‘CIA won’t be allowed operations in Pakistan’
