A word for interior minister: Do your job
From Gen (Retd) Kayani’s doctrine of offering the other cheek if the militants slapped on one, the army has resorted to a more familiar policy of ‘you strike us once, we strike you twice.’ The problem is now with Ch Nisar. Hoping to bring peace and ensure security with the help of his ‘errant friends’ who he thought were mistakenly being called terrorists, he has done little to formulate a new internal security strategy. This is revealed in the tell tale report presented to the NA’s Standing Committee on Interior and in his remarks to the media. The report indicates a sad state of affairs vis-a-vis maintenance of peace. The threat of terror attacks is looming large over the country, says the report, and the infiltration of terrorists and supply of arms from across the eastern and western borders are continuing unabated. The Punjab, Sindh, KP and Balochistan face threats from the TTP, LeJ, al Qaeda, several ethnic groups and an assortment of terrorists including Indian sponsored groups. Equally vulnerable is Islamabad despite the promises made by Nisar days after being sworn in as minister. According to the report, Islamabad has become an ‘extremely dangerous’ city because of the presence of banned outfits and other factors.
While Ch Nisar put up a brave face during the press conference on Thursday, there were failures that he could not keep under the wraps. Plans announced months back to improve domestic security still remain on the drawing board. The Joint Intelligence Directorate meant to coordinate the work of 26 intelligence agencies is yet to be constituted. The interior minister conceded that the rapid response force at the federal level has still not been replicated in the provinces. The National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) awaits being made vibrant. The cabinet has yet to pass the much talked about internal security policy draft. The policy of talks and nothing but talks has been tested and tried and found to be thoroughly unworkable. Despite this the interior minister still remains fixated on talks. He sees “clear indications that the dialogue process will be on track again.”
Enough time has been wasted building castles in the air. The interior minister needs to concentrates fully on providing security to the common man. For this the Chaudhary has to devote full time to his unfinished task that should have been completed by now. This needs to be attended to post haste. The terrorists are soon going to strike with full force wherever they find security loopholes and as his ministry has pointed out, there are several. The internal security policy should be put before the cabinet for discussion and approval. Ch Nisar meanwhile needs to take his provincial counterparts on board and provide them necessary assistance. All this has to be done on war footing. The question is, whether a man still wedded to conciliation with the terrorists can do it?
