Milestone cooperation: ‘Islamabad, Kabul working in lockstep’

Interior minister claims considerable progress in identifying Shikarpur blast masterminds.

ISLAMABAD:

The government’s security czar has said that there is exemplary coordination between Pakistan and Afghanistan to bring to justice the masterminds of the December 16 massacre at the Army Public School in Peshawar. “Coordination between the two countries is historic,” Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the federal minister for interior, told lawmakers in the National Assembly on Friday.

Soon after the APS attack, Pakistan’s political and military leadership gathered in Peshawar, while army chief Gen Raheel Sharif immediately travelled to Kabul, Nisar said. Following the army chief’s trip, Afghan and Isaf forces launched an ‘effective and coordinated action’ against terrorists in the border regions on their side of the Durand Line, he said.



“Due to sensitivity of the operations against the networks involved in the APS attack, we cannot reveal sensitive information just to celebrate the success we have achieved so far,” he added.

The minister said the nation would not forget the deadly terror incidents. “I want to assure the families of the victims that we cannot forget and will never forget [the sacrifices],” he said. “Those who committed the bloodshed would have to pay the price. We’ll redeem the nation from the cancer of terrorism,” he added.

Sahibzada Tariqullah of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) said the names of the masterminds of all terrorist attacks must be made public so that the nation could know the truth. “Not a single mastermind of terrorist attacks has been apprehended thus far,” he added.

Interior Minister Nisar also claimed ‘considerable progress’ in identifying the masterminds of the Shikarpur Imambargah bombing. He, however, didn’t share details as doing so could compromise the coordinated intelligence efforts against terrorist networks. “If I reveal names, terrorists can make an escape plan. Progress is expected in the investigation in the next few days.”

Replying to a demand by PPP MP Abdul Sattar Bachani for a compensation package for the heirs of Shikarpur blast victims, the minister said there was no precedent for such a package.

“We convened a meeting in Karachi after the Shikarpur tragedy, similar to the meeting after the APS Peshawar attack,” Nisar said when asked why the prime minister or the interior minister had not visited the victims of Shikarpur blast.

He said the state machinery was working round-the-clock in collaboration with provincial governments to probe the attack. “There is perfect coordination not only between the federal and provincial governments but also among all the provincial governments,” he added.

He reminded the lawmakers of the previous PPP government’s conduct, saying that no government officials had ever visited victims of terrorism incidents. He also clarified his earlier statement in the assembly and said that he did not hold the Sindh government responsible for this tragedy.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2015.