Senate saga: Casualty figures are correct, says Nisar

Interior minister says he agreed to get the figures reviewed when the opposition refuted them.

ISLAMABAD: The figures I had presented before the Senate pertaining to casualties from terrorist activities – that led to a war of words - were provided by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and were correct, Interior Minister Rehman Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Wednesday.

Speaking to parliamentarians at the National Assembly, Nisar said a committee with members from the opposition benches should be formed to investigate if he refused to review the figures or misbehaved. “I’m not afraid of being held accountable,” he said.

“As soon as opposition members refused to accept the figures, I told them I will ask the K-P government to recheck them; it is on record,” Nisar said, adding that the provincial government was requested to check again.

He said the K-P government stands by the previous figures.

The interior minister further criticised the opposition members for creating a ruckus over the issue even though he had agreed to look into the matter.

Senate episode

A war of words broke out between PPP Senator Raza Rabbani and Nisar on October 30 after Nisar presented figures of casualties from terrorist attacks – stats which were swiftly challenged by an ANP senator who called them a “pack of lies”.

PPP senator Aitzaz Ahsan further asked the interior minister to take back the statistics and return with correct numbers.

Nisar remained unmoved in his seat and this response triggered a heated altercation among the members of the two benches.

Later the combined opposition excluding MQM walked out of the house. The opposition members have boycotted senate sessions since then and have also moved a privilege motion against Nisar.

Letter  

The interior minister - in a letter written to Senate chairman - complained that the opposition members are trying to drag him into a controversy that he has neither created nor is he responsible for.

“I am not confronting anybody, I am not fighting anybody but I will fight till my last breath in the defence of truth and what is right,” Nisar wrote to Senate Chairman Syed Nayyar Bokhari.