Anyone speaking against Army will be taken to task in 72 hours

RAWALPINDI – Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed yesterday said that opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has “accepted defeat” following its decision to contest the by-elections. 

The 11-party alliance of opposition parties, in its January 1 meeting, had also decided to participate in the Senate elections but they are only befooling the masses by saying otherwise, the minister said while addressing a press conference at the NADRA Registration Centre here. 

The minister termed the development as good news and added that “no political front should be left vacant.” He said that that stance of opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to take part in the Senate elections now stood vindicated and it has also forced the “PDM to bend the knees.”

A day earlier, President PDM and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman after a marathon huddle of the alliance had said that the opposition will participate in the upcoming by-elections, but no decision has been taken on contesting the Senate elections.

The interior minister said that he stood justified because he had been saying that the opposition would participate both in the by-polls and the Senate elections. “All their registrations were in the locker,” he castigated the opposition. “Neither are they tendering resignations nor boycotting the by-poll of Senate but will definitely hold a protest long march.” He said that the government was ready to welcome them for this march.

Sheikh Rashid said that soon the opposition will announce the date of long march, the government would respond to PDM in the same coin so that the democracy, and the Constitution are not tainted. “We will not bother anyone but there will be a tit-for-tat response,” he said. 

Talking about the decisions of PDM taken at a meeting in Jaati Umra, the interior minister questioned what message the opposition wanted to give by holding a protest in front of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on January 19 — the day when the by-elections have been scheduled. 

He questioned why they are protesting in front of the National Accountability (NAB). He said that PML-N and PPP in their last two regimes did not disband the anti-corruption watchdog and now wanted to do so. He stressed that NAB would remain intact. He said that NAB was free to take action against anyone, be it government or opposition. He further said that both the opposition parties did not make any changes in the NAB law during the last 10 years and suddenly came out with over 30 amendments when the FATF law had to be got passed by the parliament. This is because they thought that Prime Minister Imran Khan would surrender. “PM Khan can leave the government but cannot capitulate before corruption,” he said. 

Sheikh Rashid said that JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl was upset because he would fail even to get resignations of his own party’s lawmakers. Fazl’s politics has proved counterproductive and he was now in hot waters. “Maulana Fazlur Rehman is respectable for being a religious scholar,” he said adding that the JUI-F leader should “know the difference between Islam and Islamabad,” the capital.

“Maulana should leave dreaming of occupying Islamabad,” he said while referring to the PDM’s threat of holding a long march towards Islamabad as a protest to force the government to resign.

Responding to a question, the minister said that Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was not acting upon his advice rather he was wise enough and has played well. Bilawal’s steering is in the hands of his father Asif Ali Zardari and the latter has played his cards well. “I can guess that Bilawal is going to choose a better way for him while PML-N has invited problems for itself while using wrong, unwise and parliamentary language.” 

He said that the Ministry of Interior has sent the case of JUI-F leader Mufti Kifayatullah to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government after the cabinet had decided to register a case against him for his critical remarks against the army. He said that action would be taken within 72 hours, under his stint, against anyone found using derogatory language against army and state institutions. 

The minister pointed out that there were some reports of corruption in the Ministry of Interior about issuance of Chinese and Afghan manual visas. “To address the issue, we have abolished manual visa system and an online visa system has been started for 192 countries.” He said that the government had received 200,000 visa applications on the first day of starting this facility. “I will say all overseas Pakistanis to contact the ministry to report any complaint,” he said. 

Talking about the EU Disinfo Lab report, the said that India was operating hundreds of disinformation cells to propagate against Pakistan. 

Responding to a question, the interior minister said that he did not know whether there was any atmosphere of grand national dialogue or not but as a political worker, every politician should keep its doors open for dialogue. “And who doesn’t keep it open, he is unwise and invite incidents and disasters because every (rights) movement in the world has ended on negotiations,” he said.  

Talking about the decisions taken about National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), Sheikh Rashid said the authority would issue 100,000 CNICs (computerized national identity cards) daily and first CNIC would be issued within 15 days free of cost. “We have data of 1.5 million refugees besides those 0.8 million Afghan nationals who are living illegally in Pakistan,” he said. He added that refugees are allowed to live in Pakistan but the government is considering about the fate of those living illegally. “As many 200,000 (fake) CNICs of Afghan nationals have been blocked,” he said adding that fake birth and death certificates and rent agreements were available locally to get fake CNICs issued.

The minister also announced amnesty for those Pakistani citizens who illegally hold double CNICs. He said that as many 147,000 Pakistanis, mostly living abroad, who got issued duplicate cards in their names have been given this waiver to retain one card of their choice. He said that the scheme has been announced because poor people, mostly labour class, who got issuesd double cards to earn their livelihoods in foreign countries after facing deportations or due to other reason. Only 7,000 people would not be able to avail this amnesty, he added.

He said that as many 300 modern mobile registration vehicles of NADRA would issue CNICs to the poor people in far off areas on the spot. Similarly, 50 registration centres of NADRA would operate 24 hours in a week to provide their services to the citizens without any break, he added.

Responding to a question that why the government is cancelling passport of former PM Nawaz Sharif when UK does not deport those Pakistanis unless they have any valid travelling documents, Sheikh Rashid said that the PML-N supremo’s passport is expiring on February 16 and it would not be extended further. He said that the government was looking into the matter of his deportation or extradition and requests had been forwarded to the British government in this regard.

Meanwhile, the Baffa Police on Saturday raided the house of Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-F (JUI-F) leader Mufti Kifayatullah to arrest him in connection with a treason case.

However, Mufti Kifayatullah managed to escape. The police arrested his brother Qazi Habeeb ur Rehman, two sons Shabeer Kifayat and Mohsin Kifayat, and brother-in-law Abdul Majid. The younger son Shabber Kifayat was later released.

A treason case was registered against Mufti Kifayatullah for making provocative remarks against a state institution. The Federal Cabinet had given approval for registration of the treason case against him.