Sindh government responsible for Sehwan tragedy: Nisar

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Saturday said that the provincial government was responsible for the Sehwan Sharif tragedy as there was neither security nor electricity at the shrine when the incident of the suicide attack took place.

Addressing a consultation meeting here, the minister for interior said that the terrorists would be blacklisted.

Ch Nisar said that he had to face criticism after the incident of Sehwan Sharif whose security was purely the subject of the provincial government.

"The chief secretary was asked to explain security measures before the Sehwan Sharif incident but he had nothing to reply," the minister said, adding that the security of the shrine was the provincial responsibility but even he was criticised for it.

Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that many facilitators of the Sehwan blast had been arrested, while the police and the law enforcement agencies were close to arrest the accused involved in this heinous act of terrorism.

While talking to the media during his visit to review the work on Rohri Canal, the chief minister said that the investigators of the Sehwan tragedy had collected sufficient information with the help of CCTV cameras installed at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, which would be helpful in further investigation of the incident. He said: “Our ‘out-of-order’ cameras helped arrest the culprits of the Sehwan blast.”

He said that the provincial government in collaboration with the Centre was working to root out terrorism from the country.

He said that the enemies of the country wanted to destabilise Pakistan but their nefarious designs could not succeed. “Terrorism is an international issue and Pakistan is the biggest victim of this menace,” he said. “The government had expedited operation against terrorists, anti-state elements and their facilitators,” he said.

He said that the crackdown had already been started in Sindh on the Afghans illegally staying in Pakistan and their facilitators. “We would spend all available resources to eliminate enemies of the state,” he said.

Minister for Interior Ch Nisar Ali Khan urged the media to play a frontline role in countering menace of terrorism and in uniting the nation by keeping feelings of fear and depression away from them.

Addressing the consultation meeting, along with Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb, he said presidents and general secretariats of the Pakistan Broadcasting Association, All Pakistan Newspaper Society, Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors had been invited to attend the meeting.

He said that the purpose to convene this meeting was to discuss one-point agenda of countering terrorism.

He said that such a meeting was earlier convened on January 18, 2015 and it was appealed to the media for not giving space to representatives of terrorist organisations.

"I always appreciated the role of the media following the meeting two years earlier after which running commentary of representatives of terrorism organisations had completely been stopped," he said.

Ch Nisar said that the media had great strength and approach to public and it should play role in motivating the people by keeping them united and determined against terrorism.

“The entire nation should be kept united and determined by the media for ultimate victory in war against terrorism," he maitained.

The minister for Interior said that the law and order situation had improved a lot during the last three and a half years. On average, he said six to seven explosions used to occur daily in past but significant decline had been witnessed after the efforts during the last three and a half years.

Ch Nisar said it was not a justification for any deteriorating situation but it was the fact that the number of explosions did reduce from more than 2,000 to 700 a year at present.

Out of these 700 explosions, he said no loss of life was reported in 260 incidents.

The minister said that Pakistan had porus border of around 2,500 kilometres with Afghanistan and there were multi-faceted issues in this regard.

He said that 30,000 to 40,000 people used to travel earlier without documents through this border, with no policy to stop them or data-bank to check the movement of the people.

He said that effective measures had been taken to counter terrorism and the success story was due to efforts of all law enforcement agencies of Pakistan.

The Ministry of Interior, he said, issued security alerts for several times. "I made strict accountability during internal meetings but never publicly criticised anyone by using the slot of interior minister," he added.

He said that he deemed it inappropriate to do politics by using the name of war against terrorism.

Ch Nisar Ali Khan said it was the mutual responsibility of all the stakeholders to ensure implementation on 20-point National Action Plan (NAP). He said that 10 points were responsibility of the provinces, four of the Ministry of Interior, four of other ministries and one point was about army.

Ministry for Interior, he said, was criticised for political point scoring in case of any discussion on NAP. He said that foreign hand was involved in the terrorist activities in Pakistan and funding, financing and strategic planning behind terrorism incidents was of the enemies.

He urged media to keep courage and determination of people high in this war against menace of terrorism.

He said that messages were disseminated in wars of 1965 and 1971 to keep morale of the people high and it was the need of the hour to keep spirit of people alive in war against terrorist elements.

The minister said that terrorism incidents could not make the nation’s determination low and they felt more determined to root out this menace in case of any mishap.

"We have won war on operational level and our enemy would not be allowed to get our lives disturbed," he added.

Terrorism acts, Ch Nisar said, declined after national unity in the wake of APS incident in Peshwar and credit went to the entire nation as it was not possible for one institution, government or party to tackle this situation.

He said it was decided in Prime Minister House to launch ‘Radul Fasaad Operation’ as it was against terrorists and their facilitator alike Zarb-e-Azb which was against terrorists in border areas.

He said, “Our government ensured legislation for prevention of cyber crimes despite hurdles in it.”

Ch Nisar stressed on shunning differences to focus on fight against terrorism. Ch Nisar said that media could not be restricted and its role was important in winning war against terrorism.

He urged the participants to further consider as how to corner or blacklist terrorists and inform government about expectations with it.

In the end, State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurengzeb thanked all the participants for attending the meeting which was attended among others by Parliamentary Secretary Dr Muhammad Afzal Khan Dhandla and other senior officials.

The delegation of media organisations included Sarmad Ali, Mian Aamir Mehmud, Shakeel Masood, Ejazul Haq, Mehtab Khan, Umer Mujeeb Shami, Shaheen Qureshi, Kazim Khan, Shahab Zuberi, Rameeza Nizami, Tahir Farooq, Abdul Basit and others. Senior journalists Mujeebur Rehman Shami and Arif Nizami also attended the meeting.