It’s a victory for Pakistan, says Chaudhry Nisar

ISLAMABAD: Unlike other members of the ruling party, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has appreciated the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for calling off its scheduled Nov 2 protest after the Supreme Court decision to initiate a probe into the Panamagate scandal and has termed it a ‘victory for Pakistan’.

“One should take this major development neither as a victory nor as defeat of anyone. If it’s a ‘win’, then it’s a victory for Pakistan. The importance of institutions and trust in them has increased due to Imran decision,” Nisar told a press conference at the Punjab House on Tuesday.



Nisar admitted that the past few days had been very bitter politically. However, he defended the measures taken by the government to discourage PTI workers from bearing down on the capital.

The government had blocked the main Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway to stop the PTI’s caravan led by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Pervez Khattak. The PTI activists in Khattak’s convoy had clashed with riot police in Swabi, leaving over a dozen injured.

“We defended the capital territory against invasion and avoided to turn Islamabad into a battle-ground,” he said, adding that a wrong impression was being conveyed that the government stopped the ‘Pakhtuns’ from coming to Islamabad.

“We stopped a provincial government from invading Islamabad which was equipped with government cranes, lifters and masks,” Nisar said. He paid tribute to Islamabad and Punjab police as, according to him, they restored law and order only through teargas.



He admitted that teargas should not have been used but claimed that the government was compelled to, as a few thousand people from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) wanted to enter the capital territory forcefully. “However, Imran Khan and his party later chose a better way; otherwise, there would have been nothing but violence,” he added.

According to Nisar, he also learnt that countries including Iran, China and Turkey had showed concern over the recent developments in Pakistan.

“In fact, before this SC ruling, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had already presented himself to start accountability process four months ago,” he added.

Nisar said he had been friends with Imran for 44 years but the PTI chief broke this friendship when he did not fulfill his commitment during his last protest campaign in Islamabad in 2014.

Touching upon the topic of probe into the scandal of planting a controversial story in an English daily about a national security meeting, Nisar said the investigation committee will include three members from intelligence agencies while three to four members will be taken from the cadres, which enjoy the confidence of public.

He also announced that salaries of the personnel of Frontier Constabulary (FC) will be increased by 50% to bring them at par with the pay package of Islamabad Police after June 30, 2017.

Nisar said a constable of Islamabad Police takes home a monthly salary of Rs30,000 while the Jawan of FC gets just Rs17,000 per month.

He said the FC was playing an important role in defending the country’s frontiers and have been sacrificing their lives.

He said he has also increased the retirement age of FC personnel from 35-year to 45-year.

He said grades of the personnel have also been increased to constables, head constables and ASIs.

“It would have a total expense of Rs540 million. After getting approval from the PM, the measures in this connection will be notified,” he added.

To a query about his health issues, the interior minister said he enjoyed overall a good health but there were two surgeries that had been recommended to him and he would talk to the PM in this regard.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2016.