The Federal government will be fully on Sindh Chief Minister's back, according to Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. The Interior Minister said Rangers have also been given extra powers so that they could arrest and investigate the accused to the logical end. Rangers often complain that since they lack investigation powers, criminals easily get themselves free, according to him. He was briefing mediapersons here at the Governor's House after a special Federal Cabinet meeting on this very critical issue. He was flanked by Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Federal Information Minister Senator Pervez Rashid.
Earlier, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a Federal Cabinet meeting. It was also attended by the Sindh Governor and the Chief Minister, Heads of provincial and federal law enforcing agencies and intelligence agencies. The meeting discussed in detail the law and order issue of Karachi and possible solutions to the problem. The Interior Minister informed the mediapersons about important decisions taken by the Cabinet. These included : a committee has been constituted which will be headed by the Chief Minister and will comprise heads of Law Enforcement and Intelligence agencies. Besides, he said, an operational committee headed by the Director General of Rangers has been set up. A representative of National Data-base and Registration Authority (NADRA) will be also placed on it. It will meet at least once in a week.
Another committee comprising representatives of civil society, retired bureaucrats and journalists will also be formed, he said. According to him, it will monitor this operation - against terrorists, kidnapping for ransom, extortion and street crimes - so that a possibly wrong impression may not be created that the plan is against a particular section of society or groups or has certain political agenda. Insofar as legal issues/concerns are concerned, a legal committee has been constituted to revise/formulate laws, if needed. It will include Prosecutor General of Sindh and MQM Senator Barrister Farogh Nasim as legal expert.
He said that federal intelligence agencies submitted before the Cabinet a long list of criminals who are involved in heinous crimes but were scot-free. He said the Cabinet also assigned Inspector General of Police the task of revamping the police and making it capable enough to efficiently perform its duties. The Interior Minister said more important decisions were also taken but cannot be made public because of their sensitive nature. However, he continued, these would be visible in the planned actions that will follow.
Nisar Ali Khan expressed his satisfaction that despite there being governments of different parties in Sindh and at the Centre, both the governments have decided to stand together to bring peace and security in Karachi which is a very important city of the country and an international economic hub. All major political parties, businessmen, intellectuals, journalists' fraternity and above all the people in general have praised and supported the Federal Government's initiatives and efforts aimed to bring peace and security to the city, Nisar said.
He said the socio-economic conditions here affect the entire country. A peaceful and prosperous Karachi meant peaceful and prosperous country. "It is not the time to do politics but to join hands with all sincerity and seriousness to maintain peace and security of life and property in Karachi which is the single metropolitan city of the country," he asserted. The Interior Minister informed the media about the features of the action plan.
Nisar said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had spent very busy two days in Karachi exclusively to find a viable and permanent solution to Karachi issue which had become a serious cause of concern not only for the people of Karachi but of the entire country.
He said the Prime Minister spent every minute to focus on Karachi. He had thorough consultations and detailed discussions with Heads of Law Enforcing Agencies and intelligence agencies, senior journalists invited from all over the country, representatives of all main political parties and groups, business leaders representing trade and industry of the entire country before holding a marathon session of his cabinet here and took very important decisions on normalising the city environment and to ensure better law and order here. "Nawaz Sharif has come here not in the capacity of Prime Minister nor as Chief of PML-N but as a Pakistani to share sorrows of Karachiites and help bring peace and prosperity for them," the Interior Minister added.