KARACHI: A somewhat veiled criticism by senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz politician Pervaiz Rashid of former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan caused the latter to hit back, saying he did not know why “some people have put the burden of all their mistakes and blunders on the ministry of interior and the establishment”.

In a TV interview, the first salvo was fired by Mr Rashid who sounded a little upset with the fellow Pindiite, Chaudhry Nisar, on what the interior ministry could and could not have done during Nawaz Sharif’s third term as prime minister.

Without providing any details he spoke of decisions taken by the interior ministry headed by Chaudhry Nisar that went against the PML-N.

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Chaudhry Nisar responded within no time and issued a statement through his spokesperson, saying Mr Rashid should have explained as to what kind of help he expected from the interior ministry to “cover up their deeds”.

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Referring to the report of a joint investigation team in the news leak controversy, the statement said that only one of the six-member committee was from the interior ministry and the remaining members were “subordinates” of either the federal or provincial governments.

The former interior minister, through his spokesperson, also advised Mr Rashid to ask “his government” to make public the news leak report to prove his innocence.

Earlier in the television interview, Mr Rashid returned to his old job of defending Mr Sharif and castigating the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf at the same time, assigning some credit to himself for sacrificing his post as minister “to save democracy” in a reference to his sacking over the news leak controversy earlier this year.

Senator Rashid repeated the party’s line about how the PTI had been used as a pawn to dislodge Mr Sharif, but he did note this time around a change in public perception about a fallen prime minister. Look at the immediate reaction of people (to the ouster), he remarked, as opposed to the past where silence would greet a prime minister’s dismissal.

This was, however, somewhat of a rare positive that Mr Rashid could put his finger on in his talk. Overall, his rather abrupt sum-up of the situation after a forced near-abstinence was replete with statements about why the PML-N could not do certain things in power whereas on the other hand its government allowed a few other “unwanted” instances to take place.

He discussed with greater freedom the ghost or the evil spirit that had penetrated institutions and political parties in the country, but he broke from convention when giving a human face to this devilish being. He identified it as the ghost of Gen Musharraf, as opposed to the usual Pakistani practice of blaming all evil on Gen Ziaul Haq, the original Sharif mentor. And he hastened to add that this ghost didn’t possess the whole institutions but was limited to occupying individuals working within these organisations.

This change obviously could be linked to Mian Nawaz Sharif’s issues with Gen Musharraf and it was with some regret in his tone that Mr Rashid spoke on the subject of how his government was unable to bar the general behind the 1999 coup from going abroad.

“Other institutions did not help us in stopping Musharraf,” he said simply.

Ultimately, the former information minister did mention his own sacking but implied it was a source of pride for him by describing it as a sacrifice to help democracy survive. He did put off for another time his views on the irony of it all: his removal coming on the orders of Mian Nawaz Sharif, the man he so emotionally equates with democracy in the country.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2017