ISLAMABAD: Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan assailed Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday over his remarks about banned outfits, saying that comments on sensitive and important matters must be based on facts and record and not on assumptions and riddles.

In a statement issued by his spokesman, Chaudhry Nisar pointed out that 26,000 people laid down their lives while over 70,000 sustained injuries in the war on terrorism. He said that Pakistan also suffered a loss of over $100 billion as a frontline state in the war.

Mr Asif in a recent TV interview had stressed the need “for putting our own house in order” and keeping tabs on banned organisations, including Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba, admitting that the groups were operating from within Pakistan. In another interview he said that he stood by his words.

Chaudhry Nisar regretted that despite the sacrifices, some people not only criticised and pointed fingers at Pakistan, but also made it a target of derision. “The reason is that we provide the world an opportunity to ridicule us and put the blame of their failures on us, due to our irresponsible attitudes and statements,” he noted.

In an interview, the foreign minister had called for setting ‘our own house in order’

He said it was quite strange that at a time when the army chief was asserting that Pakistan had rendered enormous sacrifices and the world must acknowledge this and should ‘do more’, the foreign minister and the interior minister were taking the position that Pakistan should do more.

He said that these two persons had been ministers for the past four and a half years. “Did they ever express these views in the meetings of the cabinet or National Security Committee? Does the minister realise how much his statement was played up and publicised in India and how it was used by that country to substantiate its baseless claim that the problem is with Pakistan?” he asked.

“This is also a fact, unfortunately, that such statements are made to criticise our intelligence agencies and armed forces. But if this is the case then one should have the moral courage to do plain talk rather than asking riddles,” Chaudhry Nisar said.

He said that of course there were some weaknesses and shortcomings vis-à-vis national security but these issues should be addressed through consultation, hard work and consensus. “One should not make fun of it before the entire world through statements. National security issues are very sensitive and one should consider national interest before speaking about such matters.”

He asked if there was not a visible improvement in the internal security situation today as compared to the one that the country faced in 2013-14. “What made this possible were joint efforts and not under any coercion or help from outside.” Federal and provincial governments, arm-ed forces, civil armed forces, and intelligence agencies contributed to the joint efforts, he added.

The former interior minister said if the defence minister saw any weakness or shortcoming, he should have taken remedial measures or should have raised the issue at the cabinet or National Security Com-mittee level. Ministers should come up with solutions rather than making statements, he remarked.

Referring to a claim made by an anchor of a private TV channel, putting his own words into the mouth of Kulsoom Nawaz, Chaudhry Nisar said it was totally ridiculous, baseless, provocative and a total lie. What was most surprising was why he recalled such a thing after almost 17 years. This is a matter of serious concern that Ms Nawaz was unwell these days and she was not in a position to comment on such news.

He said any attempt to make Ms Nawaz controversial, especially when she was not well, was inappropriate.

A prominent TV anchor had recently quoted Ms Nawaz as saying that Chaudhry Nisar was not with her when she had launched a campaign against former dictator retired General Pervez Musharraf while her husband was under incarceration.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2017