All terrorists are homegrown: Malik

FIA bosses asked to arrest agents involved in human trafficking.

KARACHI: All terrorists bent on destroying Pakistan are homegrown and it will be erroneous to blame an unspecified foreign hand behind all acts of sabotage, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Sunday.

“They (terrorists) are all Pakistanis. They are traitors, ” Malik told reporters after he arrived from Islamabad.

He said al Qaeda, Tehreeki- Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) were creating a terrible nexus for inflicting maximum harm on the country and its law enforcers.

His comments came within a fortnight of a deadly suicide bombing of a Crime Investigation Department (CID) compound in Karachi, an attack Malik had already blamed on LeJ, a sectarian jihadi outfit with strong al Qaeda links.

A section of Pakistani society, especially right-wing elements, believes that secret services of ‘hostile’ countries, including the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and India’s Research and Analysis Wing (Raw), are behind acts of terrorism in the country. But Rehman discounted the possibility.

“We should put our own house in order before pointing a finger at someone else, ” he said when a questioner asked whether there was any evidence to suggest that a foreign country might be involved in the recent Karachi attack.

Later, Malik chaired a highlevel meeting at NCMC in Karachi to review matters of illegal human trafficking, smuggling and anti-corruption drive, said a statement.

The FIA’s director-general and its director for Balochistan and other officials concerned of the agency attended the meeting.

Malik took serious notice of the deportation of 106 illegal Pakistani immigrants at the Taftan check-post. Of the total 54 were from Punjab while 52 belonged to Balochistan.

The interior minister ordered top FIA officials to ensure the arrest of all fake agents who facilitated illegal human trafficking.

He also asked FIA director Balochistan to visit the border post himself and keep a vigilant eye on the smuggling of sugar, raw sugar and other commodities to Afghanistan.

He also directed to check the illegal entry of Afghan nationals and keep in close touch with Chaman border police for re-installing biometrics system.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2010.