He has problems
Failing badly in the performance of his own duties Ch Nisar continues to meddle in the domain of his colleagues. He reprimanded Bangladesh for executing JI leaders and a UAE minister for ‘threatening’ Pakistan. On another occasion, he vented his spleen on Sartaj Aziz and said one must choose between honour and dollars. He has now told the media what he thinks needs to be done vis-a-vis Pak-India talks. This creates the perception that other members of the Cabinet are not doing their jobs well and it has become necessary to send them public reminders now and then. This has given birth to tensions between the Interior Minister with colleagues in the past, with at least one Cabinet member stating that he has not been on talking terms with him for years.
Irrespective of the merits or otherwise of Ch Nisar’s stand on talks with India, what remains questionable is his locus standi. The issue does not come under his domain. Being a member of the Cabinet he can convey his concerns to the Prime Minister personally or in the Cabinet meeting. What the statement suggests is that the PM was all set to start talks with India and there was a need to urgently dissuade him.
What Ch Nisar needs to do is to pay more attention to his own duties which he is continuously ignoring. He was absent from Islamabad when two years back a gunman kept the city on tenterhooks for hours. When located somewhere on the Motorway, he said he was on a holiday. He remained untraceable when the terrorists attacked Karachi airport last year. Required to implement the National Action Plan, he neglected the crucial task knowing well that delay was bound to be dangerous. Most of the shortcomings pointed out by the army at the high level meeting recently were in fact the outcome of the Interior Minster’s failure to deliver. If Nisar was really concentrating on his own tasks, he would have little time to graze on colleagues’ turf.
