Karachi crisis: Nisar to meet Sindh CM, governor today

The interior minister will take the input of all provincial authorities on the city’s law and order situation.

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday directed Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to rush to Karachi today (Monday) to get a grip on the law and order situation of the city.

The interior minister will take the input of Sindh Governor Dr. Ishratul Ebad Khan and Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah to learn how to revamp the whole policing system in the province, interior ministry officials told The Express Tribune on Sunday.



It will be Nisar’s first visit to Karachi since he asked the provincial authorities to step up their security plan as fears loomed that London Metropolitan Police might take action against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) top leadership in the United Kingdom.

However the sources did not reveal as to whether Nisar was going to hold meetings with the leaderships of MQM and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The visit comes after the prime minister instructed the interior minister to look into the deteriorating law and order situation of the metropolis and asked him to take the input of all provincial authorities and security agencies to finalise the draft for the first national security policy.

Nisar will also be briefed by Director General Rangers and Inspector General Sindh Police on the security situation, informed officials said.  He will be accompanied by other interior ministry officials.

They said that the government had already put paramilitary forces on alert in nine cities of Sindh province. The interior ministry and National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) top officials had cautioned worst law and order situation in the aftermath of London Police’s possible action against MQM leadership.

“Special police and Rangers’ contingents will be called in—even army might be called if the situation worsens,” said a senior interior ministry official.

Earlier the interior minister had promised that he would not disappoint the people of Karachi if entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order in the metropolitan city, which has become a cauldron of sectarian, ethnic, political and militant violence.

MQM prepared to meet Nisar with one-point agenda

MQM Rabta Committee member Wasay Jalil told The Express Tribune on Sunday that they had one-point agenda to discuss with the Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan if he held a meeting with them.

“We will raise the issue of law and order situation of the city, if Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan holds meeting with MQM,” Jalil said.

He said so far they had not been contacted by the interior minister and it had come to their information via media that Nisar was visiting Karachi to meet with the chief minister and the governor.

He said in case of a meeting, they would take up the city’s law and order situation including the Lyari issue as well as the situation of the province on the whole.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2013.