- Nisar says PM did not accept his resignation over Quetta Commission report
- Says he will challenge the report
- Says the commission presented one-sided story
- Denies having met with ASWJ leaders
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Saturday has said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has asked him to hang in there and not resign right now after the former wanted to quit his post over a scathing report by judicial commission on Quetta Civil Hospital attack.
He has also stated that he will challenge the Quetta Commission’s inquiry report in the Supreme Court and Parliament to defend his honour and dignity.
Nisar’s remarks come two days after the judicial commission probing the August 8 deadly attacks made its report public.
Addressing the press conference in Islamabad, he said, “I went to the prime minister to tell him that I wanted to resign from my position but was told not to do so.”
“I was only allowed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to hold the press conference when I offered to step down,” h said.
The one-man commission report released by the Supreme Court on Thursday pointed out the ‘monumental failure’ of the interior ministry to combat terrorism.
Based on investigations into the Quetta incident in which 70 people, most of them lawyers, were killed, the report said Nisar ‘displayed little sense of ministerial responsibility’ and that there was a continued delay on part of his ministry to take steps against militant groups and proscribed organisations.
“The [Interior] Ministry’s National Security Internal Policy is not being implemented. The Officers of the Ministry appear more interested in serving the Minister than the people of Pakistan,” said the inquiry report.
“Forensic tools are not being used to aid in tracing the perpetrators of terrorist attacks, and rudimentary methodologies to examine crime scenes, etcetera, have just not been developed or standardised,” it stated.
“I will challenge the commission’s report at every forum and I request the Supreme Court to fix the case for hearing it as early as possible,” Nisar told the media persons.
“I was asked five questions by the inquiry commission and none of those was linked to the Quetta bombing,” he said.
The interior minister said that he would lay bare every fact about the ministry in the apex court.
To a question, he said that former President Pervez Musharraf was allowed to fly abroad by the trial court, not the interior ministry.
“I read the report in newspapers, and I’m surprised how it was released without listening to our point of view. Only one side of the picture is shown by the commission,” he said.
Chaudhry Nisar also dismissed criticism on National Action Plan (NAP) by lawmakers in the National Assembly.
Responding to a query about Board of Governors meeting, he said the question pertains to the PM House.
Answering a question about appointment of special secretary in Ministry of Interior, Nisar said the appointment was in accordance with rules and regulations.
Nisar denies having met with ASWJ officials
The report also criticised the interior minister on compromising the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism by meeting Maulana Ahmed Ludhyanvi, chief of a defunct organisation Ahle Sunnat Wal Juma’at (ASWJ).
But Ch Nisar says that he had held a meeting with a delegation of Difa-e-Pakistan Council, and not members of banned ASWJ, to discuss the matter of computerised national identity cards (CNICs).
Chaudhry Nisar said it was the jurisdiction of district administration to allow rallies, not his.
In response to a question about a meeting of National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) never having taken place, the minister said a meeting of the NACTA executive committee was held in December 2014.
Nisar lambasted the critics saying the ones who have not even read the document of National Action Plan are criticising him and others. “No matter how many adjournment motions you bring against me, I will face them all.”
“Even those under whose reign attacks like the one on Marriott Hotel in Islamabad took place, are speaking out today,” he said, in an apparent hit at PPP.
Nisar lashes out at Bilawal
Without naming PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the minister said, “There’s this certain kid who speaks whatever comes to his mind, only to insult others.”
“I wish someone told that child that the Panama Papers leaks also contained his mother’s name.”
Ayyan Ali’s case
Speaking with regard to model Ayyan Ali’s case, he said it was not just a matter of allegedly laundering 0.5 million dollars, but a political nexus is also involved in it.
