A bad workman always blames his tools
The race for the next year’s elections is already on. Terrorists or no terrorists, none could have stopped the intrepid Ch Nisar of the warrior race from proceeding to Wah where he was scheduled to announce a package of Rs 1.5 b to the 27,000 employees of Pakistan Ordnance Factories . This must have been the interior minister’s first appearance in a lifetime at a May Day gathering. How could he ignore the function when eyeing the elections next year the opposition is already geared to give the ruling party a run for its money? If the PML-N chief is throwing tax payers money around to keep the opposition at bay why shouldn’t Ch Nisar follow suit?
The way Nisar reacted to the advice given by the security agencies was identical to the opposition parties’ stock response to similar cautions from the Interior Ministry. They invariably maintained that the warning of a terrorist attack was politically motivated and was aimed at spreading panic and thus stopping the opposition from conducting its public campaigns. Waxing rhetorical Ch Nisar said that if POF workers were not safe on the Labour Day, then he had no concern for his personal safety either. “The May Day ceremony at POF is a long-standing tradition and, God-willing, the other federal ministers and I will participate in the ceremony as planned.” If his outburst had ended with the bravado one would have explained it away as a pep talk.
But Ch Nisar went a step further. Addressing the security agencies he said if they could not secure sensitive installations like Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF), then questions would be raised on their performance. For a moment Ch Nisar forgot that he is not an opposition leader but the interior minister of the country. The careless statement is likely to be used by interested quarters to argue that when the interior minister is himself sceptical about the performance of those assigned the task of securing sensitive installations Pakistan’s defense assets remain unsafe. Ch Nisar would have done well to consider the international implications of his ill- chosen words.
