- Interior minister assured of no interference in affairs of his ministry, release of funds for NACTA
In a major breakthrough on Tuesday, the long-running differences between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan were bridged when the two met after four months in an hour-long meeting at the Prime Minister’s House before the start of the federal cabinet’s meeting.
The meeting was also attended by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Minister for State and Frontier Regions Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch.
Sources said that the meeting, for which Shahbaz Sharif played a critical role, was held in a cordial atmosphere and the prime minister warmly shook hands with the interior minister when he arrived for the meeting.
During the meeting, a detailed discussion took place on country’s law and order, Karachi Operation, Interior Ministry affairs, functioning of National Counterterrorism Authority (NACTA) and implementation of National Action Plan (NAP).
“The prime minister assured interior minister that all his reservations would be addressed for ensuring a swift implementation of NAP. He also directed finance minister to ensure provision of funds to the Interior Ministry. Moreover, it was also agreed that none of the ministers would interfere in the affairs of Interior Ministry in future and Nisar would have full say in this regard,” sources said.
Assuring that funds provision to the Interior Ministry would be made available on priority, the prime minister expressed satisfaction over the way the Interior Ministry was being run and assured his all-out support to the interior minister, sources said.
A source said that Chaudhry Nisar was not feeling well on Tuesday, but not only he attended the cabinet meeting but he also visited Punjab House for a brief period.
“Chaudhry Nisar looked calm and relaxed after the meeting. While talking to his staff, the minister also made fun of the some tickers running at TV channels regarding the meeting, saying the prime minister was not supposed to make such childish statements and TV channels were busy in kite-flying,” the source added.
Chaudhry Nisar, who is a diehard Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) member, had been unhappy with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for non provision of funds to his ministry for activation of NACTA, installation of a joint directorate of intelligence, recruitment of Rapid Response Force, etc.
Due to the non-provision of funds, not only the implementation of NAP was affected but the army leadership was also unhappy with the government for not showing seriousness towards its role.
In a recent statement, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif had also urged the political leadership to take “political decisions” to help take Operation Zarb-e-Azb to the urban areas where the sympathisers and facilitators of terrorists were hiding.
Moreover, Chaudhry Nisar was also unhappy with the finance minister who had intervened to facilitate the Muttahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain three months ago, in violation of the interior minister’s orders.
Sources said Shahbaz Sharif, Ishaq Dar, Pervaiz Rashid, Khwaja Saad Rafiq and Fawad Hassan Fawad played their role in bridging differences and bringing the leaders face-to-face to iron out issues.
The Punjab chief minister held several one-on-one meetings with the prime minister and interior minister to remove misunderstandings and address the interior minister’s grievances.
