Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan: Disregarded by some, admired by many

Terror-related incidents declined sharply during his tenure as interior minister

ISLAMABAD: The tenure of Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as the interior minister may not have been rated as perfect, but there are a number of areas in the Ministry of Interior and its allied departments where he made tremendous progress.

Nisar opted not to become a member of the federal cabinet headed by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi after the verdict of the Supreme Court on the Panama Papers case, which disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for concealing the salary he was supposed to draw as chairman of his son’s Dubai-based company, Capital FZE. But he will be remembered for several achievements as the interior minister for a period of over four years.



When he took charge as the interior minister in June 2013, Pakistan was facing the worst era of terrorism. The years of 2009 and 2010 were the worst with 1,938 and 2,061 terrorist attacks, respectively.

An average of five to six terror strikes per day continued from 2009 to 2013. After assuming office, he proposed three-tier security apparatus within the large cities of the country. The police was to be the first line of defence, civil armed forces (Rangers and Frontier Corps) constituted the second and the Pakistan Army the third. The army agreed to commit over 20,000 troops with the proviso that if need be it would be called in under Article 245 of the Constitution.



This arrangement formed the basis of Integrated Security Apparatus (ISA), which is still in place and functioning countrywide. The first-ever National Internal Security Policy (NISP) was also formed aiming to eliminate the growing menace of terrorism by filling the coordination gaps in intelligence regime to develop proactive systems.

As a result of the NISP, the system of intelligence sharing, collation and alert dissemination through National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) was developed which paved the way for intelligence-based operations (IBOs) throughout the country. A total of 7,522 IBOs were carried out during his tenure, of which, 2,062 were carried out in Punjab, 239 in Sindh, 3,719 in Balochistan, 1,164 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 273 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 43 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 22 in Gilgit-Baltistan.



In a total of 152,936 combat operations and IBOs conducted across the country, 195,480 persons were arrested. Due to these operations, a total of 5,611 terrorists were arrested and 1,865 killed. It was due to these efforts that terrorism incidents went down manifolds in 2016 as compared with the incidents in 2010. In 2016, a total of 769 incidents took place as compared with 2,061 in 2010.

Another achievement accomplished when Nisar was the interior minister was intelligence fusion and dissemination of alerts through strategic coordination with intelligence agencies and Nacta. The Nacta was able to predict 132 terrorist attacks, of which, 24 were predicted with a very high degree of accuracy and precision.



Keeping in view that the country was in the middle of the war on terror, the minister put complete ban on deployment of police force for UN peacekeeping mission, besides withdrawing personnel of ICT police and Civil Armed Forces from the security of unauthorised persons.

Karachi operation led to reduction in terrorist incidents by almost 80 per cent and target killings and murders by 50 per cent.



Placing ban on arms licences and re-verification of licences through Nadra is another major achievement of his. According to official record, over 352,843 manual arms licences were issued by the Ministry of Interior during 2008-2013, but the record of issued licences was sketchy and incomplete. The re-verification drive of licences was launched which led to the cancellation of 9,960 bogus licences. The 196,946 licences which remained unverified despite notices to the licencees have also been cancelled. Neglected Nacta was strengthened through various measures and it was given the required budget and other resources.

When it was learnt that Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor had the possession of a Pakistani national identity card, re-verification campaign of CNICs was launched in the country in which thousands of individuals were detected as aliens and in another exercise 32,000 passports were cancelled which were issued to non-nationals, besides cancelling 2,002 official and diplomatic passports issued to unauthorised persons. Safe City Project of ICT, which was in jeopardy and for which $60 million was released five years ago, was also materialised during his tenure.



Integrated Border Management System (IBMS) was installed at 18 immigration check points. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for investigation of deportees was evolved that led to the arrest of 97 most wanted human smugglers. Proper SOPs were devised for placing and removing the names on the Exit Control List (ECL). A total of 9,750 individuals whose names were put on the ECL for years on flimsy grounds were removed. Movement at the western border was regulated and IBMS was installed to control undocumented movement.

Nisar may have left some of his work incomplete, but his term will be remembered for bringing about drastic positive changes in the country, of which, many have started bearing fruits.