Why is Ch. Nisar obsessed with Islamabad when bombs are going off elsewhere?
Two terror attacks took place in the country on Friday but the priorities of the interior minister appear to be concentrated on the federal capital. With a suicide bomber blowing himself up in a Shia mosque in Peshawar in which 15 people died and a Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) MPA and his son shot dead after Friday prayers, there have been five major terrorists incidents since the new government took charge. Adding the attacks in Quetta, Mardan and Kohat Road, the threat offered by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and other militant groups becomes more and more imminent by the day.
At such a critical period, Interior Minister Ch. Nisar Ali Khan is already coming under criticism. Earlier, criticized by the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party general secretary for preferring to go to Ziarat, instead of taking stock of the Quetta bus bombing, the latest press conference by the interior minister appears to be focused on the federal capital, not the federation. In a press conference on Thursday after a high-level security meeting, Ch. Nisar announced the removal of all civil armed forces personnel deputed for VIP security except for the president, prime minister and chief justice and prohibited the issuance of arms licenses across the country amongst other things. While these two were positive measures, his other announcements led many observers to question his priorities. Ch. Nisar announced measures which including the removal of encroachments, removal of persons deputed for more than three years in the Capital Development Authority (CDA), cleaning of roads, improvement of transport services, a grand operation against non-registered vehicles and underage drivers in the next three days. The strangest of his utterances was the statement that, “We have to bring spoilt children on the right track,” referring to the youth who loiter outside public places in the capital.
In a press conference that did not mention the Taliban or any other national security threat, it was strange to see the interior minister occupied with “rectifying astray youth.” Should his task not be to concentrate on formulating a joint National Security Policy, help security agencies coordinate better and help recover the missing persons as he did announce in the same interaction with the press? Somehow it was felt as if half the things the interior minister said fell outside the purview of what should be his most urgent priorities. Why should the interior minister make announcements about improving Islamabad traffic and youngsters, announcing development plans and overseeing the computerization of land and police records? Surely someone needs to tell Ch. Nisar that he needs to concentrate fully on improving the security situation in the country. The two attacks on Friday should serve as an ample reminder that the interior minister needs to return to the more urgent tasks at hand. Such as: what to do about the Taliban? What to do about the situation in Karachi and Balochistan?
