Seal of approval: Govt, nation have great trust in Gen Raheel, says Nisar

Says Pakistan needs an army chief like General Raheel Sharif who has earned national and international fame

ISLAMABAD:

Quashing rumours that it had contemplated sacking the top military command during the four-month long sit-in staged by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehreek in Islamabad last year, the government said on Monday it reposes great trust and faith in the leadership of the present chief of the army staff, General Raheel Sharif.

“It is a baseless speculation [against the army chief]. We have complete trust in the incumbent top command of our military,” said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali in response to a journalist’s question on Monday. Nisar was speaking to the media at the inauguration of an online system for the renewal of computerised national identity cards (CNICs) at the headquarters of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).

“We need an army chief like General Raheel Sharif who has earned national and international fame. We need him to fight militants,” he said, adding that such ‘baseless rumours’ were being spread by the ‘enemies’ of Pakistan.

Over the past year and a half, he said, General Raheel had succeeded in winning the heart of every Pakistani. “The army chief has the confidence of the government, armed forces and the entire nation. The nation should stand by the army chief as the army is the only institution that has achieved success in a guerrilla war,” he said.



He said he could write a book on the four-month-long sit-in by PTI and PAT in the federal capital. “But it’s time to move on,” he added.

The interior minister remarks about the army chief have come at a time when relations between the security establishment and the civilian government are apparently smooth.

“This statement is surprising for sure but Nisar’s words acknowledge the services of General Raheel,” observed Rustam Shah Mahmood, a former ambassador. “There could be a possibility or a rumour – may be within the military or civilian circles – somewhere at some point but the fresh statement is a stamp of approval for the army chief,” he observed.

Inauguration of an online system

Earlier, Chaudhry Nisar inaugurated an online system for the renewal of the CNICs. He said the step has been taken in order to provide relief to people who will no longer have to form long queues outside NADRA centres.

“With a single click, one will be able to renew their identity cards on the computer and get updates on the status of their application through the new online system,” he said.

He announced that a DNA testing lab will also be established under NADRA which will work towards facilitating the armed forces of the country. “The DNA laboratory will start operating in the next six months,” he said.

Nisar also announced that the government plans to set up 13 international level business centres in the next seven months, which will work as a one-stop place for the issuance of identity cards and passports.

“The information of birth, death, marriage and divorce will be digitised and centralised to avoid issuance of fake documents,” he said. “We are going to centralise the entire data to curb corruption and to ensure online verification of identity cards.”

Providing statistics, the minister said some 64,000 passports were blocked last year, adding the institution has fetched government Rs5 billion.

He said the government is doing its utmost to ensure that not a single incompetent and corrupt officer works at NADRA. He also lauded the hard work of NADRA employees to end the backlog and to make the organisation a profitable institution.


Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2015.