Well done, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan!

Islamabad
The first lesson in journalism is to identify loopholes in society and public sector departments, but encouraging the good initiatives of the government should also be a part of journalistic priorities.
The interior minister is right in saying that positive news is not considered newsworthy in Pakistan and good initiatives by the government are never projected in the media. Negative news gets massive coverage; however, the words in this column will soothe the complaints of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to some extent.
No grudge should be felt relating to the 21-month progress of the Interior Ministry or Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, as there are numerous positive indicators during this time by sub-departments of the Interior Ministry. The performance of the Interior Ministry from June 2013 to March 2015 could not be discussed in detail but cursory view of this performance could be gauged by changes that were initiated in the Interior Ministry and its sub-departments, including FIA, Passports & Immigration, Nadra and ANF relating to ending corruption and correcting performance of these departments. The performance of these key departments hinted at the fact that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan takes keen interest in the working of the ministry and keenly observes functioning of the sub-departments. He remains vigilant and focused to eradicate corrupt elements and loopholes from the working environment of the ministry and its related departments.
Briefing the Standing Committee of the Parliament on 21-month performance of the Interior Ministry, the minister discussed in detail hindrances regarding working of the ministry.
Talking about mismanagement and corruption in sub-departments of the Interior Ministry, the minister said that the ministry is the most sensitive one and as the country is in a state of war and a war against terrorism is going on, it is its key responsibility to ensure harmony and coordination between military and provincial departments, and to be vigilant about the changing scenarios at foreign as well as national levels. Amidst these challenges when any initiative is taken within the ministry to redress complaints, the concerned files are usually found missing from the record and not only this, even files of foreign agreements are also found missing from the record of the ministry and this is a unique sort of working amidst such critical scenario.
The minister also admitted that even his own ministry creates hurdles when initiatives are taken to correct this system and he disclosed that a mafia is behind all this mess. The minister conveyed that it is very difficult to find out an upright and competent officer as even fresh officers follow practices of erstwhile officers which reduces the chances of improvement.
A letter received by the Interior Ministry made horrendous disclosures that the prisoners, handed over to the government of Pakistan under an agreement for exchange of prisoners with the British Government, were found missing from Pakistani jails, who were convicted by the British courts in smuggling and killing incidents and were jailed for 18, 19, 25 years. It was conveyed in the letter that all these three prisoners were released with connivance of officials.
For verification of this, when a delegation of the British Police Department came to Pakistan, the concerned prisoner was found in jail as the elements who had helped him flee from the jail earlier, booked him in another case and ensured his presence in the prison. Before the British delegation his attendance was shown in jail but during PML-N government, the British authorities requested for investigation into this case again. During subsequent investigation, it was revealed that as per agreement for exchange of prisoners three prisoners were handed over to the authorities in Pakistan but only one prisoner was shown in jail record and other two prisoners fled from the jail within two months of their arrival in Pakistan and arrangements were also made to help them flee from Pakistan as well. On further investigation, out of these two prisoners one fled to Dubai and second to Malaysia and Ecuador. The minister tasked the FIA to bring these two prisoners home and the FIA brought these two prisoners from Malaysia and Ecuador through Interpol and through Prisoners Exchange Agreement with Ecuador. Taking immediate action, the Interior Ministry not only cancelled agreements for prisoners exchange but also jailed the officials who have facilitated these prisoners.
No doubt, this incident brought humiliation to Pakistan but re-arrest of these prisoners was a good initiative on part of the Interior Ministry that reduced the stigma to a greater extent.
There are also some good initiatives on part of the Interior Ministry for putting an end to the ‘VIP culture’ as it has become a fashion to keep FC and Elite Force personnel as security guards and thousands of FC, Rangers and Police officials have been deputed as security guards with the high-ups. The interior minister, taking action, brought back all these officials and deputed them to their relevant departments.
The minister banned official foreign trips of the officials of the Interior Ministry and kept a check on free movement of senior officials of the ministry.
There is a series of successes on part of the Interior Ministry to end corruption and mismanagement in Passports and Immigration cells of the ministry.
As per the interior minister, it has become hard and difficult to find out an honest and upright official whenever they focus on eradicating corruption from these departments. Amidst these challenges, when the country is facing scarcity and brain drain of committed, honest and professional officers, the performance of the Interior Ministry is praiseworthy.