Is it worth anything placating Ch Nisar?
There have been reports of sharp differences between Ch Nisar and the party leadership which were promptly denied by the PML-N. However when Ch Nisar preferred to spend time with a group of PML-N legislators instead of piloting the Protection of Pakistan Bill in the NA, it was no more possible for the party to remain in a state of denial. Two lengthy calls on the interior minister by the otherwise busy Shahbaz Sharif however failed to break the ice. On Saturday, Nawaz Sharif spent the best part of the day in placating the interior minister. As the estranged Ch Nisar has returned silently to Islamabad after more than a five-hour long meeting, one is not sure if any headway has been made in removing his reservations.
The government is functioning for nearly a month without an interior minister and that too at a highly crucial time. What is at stake is the internal security, particularly the lives of millions of people living in the urban centres as well as major civil and military installations. Once the terrorists have a respite from the military operation, which is supposedly ending by the middle of Ramazan, they are likely to target major cities to turn the victory won by the army in the battlefield into a defeat.
What one expected from a senior minister like Ch Nisar is that instead of nursing grievances he would have taken up whatever differences he had at the cabinet meetings. In case he failed to persuade the majority, he should have accepted other’s point of view. If Ch Nisar thought it was a matter of certain principles over which he could not compromise the only honourable course for him would have been to quit. He has however chosen to stick to the job without performing his duties. That the government has failed to replace him with a new interior minister is equally unfortunate as it shows its lack of concern for the lives of the people.
