- Nisar says govt neither irked at nor afraid of NAB, endorses FIA’s performance
- Asks Sindh govt to move courts if they have any reservations, offers opposition parties briefings on mega scandals
- Says arrests made in Pathankot case, India to inform Pakistan five days before the investigation team’s arrival
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Sunday said the federal government is neither afraid of, nor annoyed with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and is not planning to clip the body’s powers.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Nisar clarified that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had only advised NAB not to threaten businessmen and investors after receiving complaints from the community, Radio Pakistan reported.
“Two of the biggest enemies of PML-N ruled the country for 13 years but they couldn’t bring anything forward against us. Why would we be afraid now? The Bureau could not bring anything against the party in those years, how can they do it today,” Nisar said.
Chaudhry Nisar offered the opposition parties including PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami to receive a briefing from the government on all the mega scandals. He advised Sindh government to move courts in case of any reservations.
He said the prime minister had advised NAB not to harass investors and businessmen, who had complained to him about the intimidation by the NAB. The prime minister’s statement should be taken in this very perspective, he stressed.
“Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif’s statement never meant to clip NAB’s wings. His statement was in context of the concerns shared by businessmen about NAB troubling them,” said Nisar.
Nisar said that billions of rupees were plundered in the mega scandals and political people were involved in them. He said that these cases were so serious that not pursuing them would have been a crime of national level.
“If Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has any misunderstanding about the mega scandals, then I am ready to give a briefing to all the institutions concerned and even for judicial scrutiny,” he said.
Interior Minister said that there was no political intervention at any level in Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and that the institution was investigating many of the mega scandals. He said that Pakistan was a democracy and there were proper running courts here.
“I have presented my two-and-half-year performance for judicial scrutiny. If Sindh government has any reservations about any of the actions by NAB and FIA, then they may move courts too,” said Nisar.
“My offer is not conditional to former president Asif Ali Zardari’s return. Whether he comes back or not, if the PPP is ready for a judicial commission then the government would be ready for it too. We are ready to form a commission of judges agreed upon by all the opposition parties,” he added.
Nisar accused the previous PPP government of making money from Haj revenues , adding that other corruption scandals like “EOBI, PSO, Abandoned Properties Evacuee Trust, New Islamabad Airport and PIA” all emerged during the PPP regime.
He said the PPP was only trying to save Dr Asim Hussain by accusing FIA of trespassing. He said FIA has recovered over Rs 14.5 billion of looted money. He recommended to increase the salaries and other benefits of FIA officials.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday had said that the NAB is harassing government officers and bureaucrats are afraid of taking decisions including signing of files of different projects because of the “NAB harassment”.
“The NAB terrifies the government officers, hindering them from performing their duty.” the premier had said.
Commenting on Nawaz Sharif’s remarks, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said the FIA was also doing the same against the PPP.
“Mian Sahib, not only NAB but your FIA is also doing the same job. Dr Asim is not involved in corruption, and one of your ministers has also conceded this,” he said in a statement.
PTI’s lawyer had approached the Lahore High Court against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for undermining the independence of NAB.
PATHANKOT INVESTIGATION:
Talking about Pathankot attack investigation, the PML-N stalwart said that some arrests had been made in the case but it wasn’t necessary to make clear announcements about them.
“It is a highly sensitive issue. Media should avoid speculating,” the minister said. He assured that all the decisions will be made in accordance with the law.
Nisar added that a letter had been written to the Indian government for sending an investigation team there and the Indian side had responded by saying that they would inform the Pakistani government five days prior to the arrival.
“Our investigation team will reach India within the next few days,” he said. He said that India had shared a few telephone numbers with the government about the Pathankot incident, which have been added to the FIR.
I know that because of bad news on most fronts, the people need a bit of diversion by way of some entertainment. Still, we do not have to suffer the joker every now and then, more so when he is not even funny.
Churchill had said, and quite wisely, that you can fool some of the people all the time, or all the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time. The chap is just trying to prove Churchill wrong and, in the process, just making a fool of himself.
First when MQM expressed apprehensions that in the guise of displaced persons, Taliban fleeing from tribal areas were moving to Karachi, it was Chaudhry Nisar who just mocked the suggestion.
And then it was about Daish. Despite disclosures by senior intelligence officials, he persistently denies their presence in Pakistan, with a confidence level which, in the presence of all the surrounding evidence, only a superlative degree fool could have.
And now that Nawaz Sharif talked about NAB in tones which clearly depicted both fear and annoyance, Chaudhry Nisar is adamant that the government is neither afraid nor annoyed.
I wonder what this man is doing in this all-important position of Federal Interior Minister which, in view of the mess we seem to be in, requires a man of courage, vision and lots and lots of common sense. Instead, we have Chaudhry Nisar. No wonder most of the measures under the National Action Plan, which fell within the purview of the civilian government, remain unimplemented. If he can’t even see the problems, how can he ever feel the need to develop plans to tackle them.
Chaudhry Nisar may be popular with some of the boys, perhaps because of sharing enthusiasm for hounding MQM and Peoples Party, but beyond that what is it that keeps him in his post despite all the odds against him?
Come to think of it, he could prove to be a liability even for the armed forces. Like for example, the armed forces did a wonderful job by uprooting the terrorists firmly entrenched in the border and tribal regions, killing many in the process and forcing others to flee to Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the country. But the gains made by the armed forces had to be complemented and consolidated by the civilian government. Now, launching an ideological war against extremism and terrorism,through a counter-narrative and other administrative measures was the job of the civilian government, in which it seems to have utterly failed, for the simple reason that has not taken it up in earnest yet, and going a step further, perhaps he does not see even a need for all this.
And the attacks launched from across the Afghan border succeed only because of the local support provided by the networks of their local sympathizers and supporters, eliminating which was the job of the civilian government.
And with the occasional terrorist attacks, even the people have started questioning the efficacy of the military operation, which is grossly unfair to them because they have played their part well and it is the civilian governments which seems to be dithering.
We seem to be in quite a mess, and the problem is that nobody seems to be willing or able to sort matters out..
Karachi
Magnificent information, thankful to the maker. It is confounded to me now, yet in customary, the capability and enormity is disturbing. All that much thanks again and good fortunes!
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