Imran Farooq murder case FIR to be lodged in Pakistan: Nisar

It is the responsibility of State of Pakistan to bring the MQM leader’s killers to justice; no unregistered INGO will be allowed to work in Pakistan beyond Jan 1, 2016; military personnel’s killing to speed up Karachi operation; 234 human smugglers arrested

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Tuesday said the FIR of the Dr. Imran Farooq murder case would be registered in Pakistan.

Addressing a press conference at the Punjab House here, he said the MQM leader, Dr. Imran Farooq, was a Pakistani and it was the responsibility of the state of Pakistan to bring his killers to court. He said all evidence and investigations concerning the high-profile murder case had been exchanged with Scotland Yard.

The minister said after the registration of the FIR, it would be decided how to extend the investigation process to other facilitators.Talking about the registration policy for INGOs working in Pakistan, Nisar said the deadline for registration had been extended by one more month up to December 31, 2015.

He made it clear that from January 1, 2016, unregistered INGOs would not be allowed to operate.The minister said hundreds of INGOs were operating in Pakistan but only 19 of them had been registered. He said 129 INGOs had applied for registration till Nov 30, 2015.

The minister said the government welcomed INGOs to work in Pakistan but under the law and the Constitution of Pakistan.

Denouncing the target killing of Military Police officials in Karachi, the minister said the Karachi operation will be speeded up and elements responsible for disrupting peace in Karachi will face a defeat. He said the type of gun used in the offence was similar to the one used in the target killing of police and Rangers.

To a query, the minister said the government was going to devise a strategy for investigation and prosecution of terrorists, as there were reports that some detained terrorists managed to get bail benefiting from the weak investigative and prosecution process.

Talking about weak investigation of terrorists on part of some officers, either intentionally or unintentionally, he said action will be taken against all those found favoring terrorists.

Commenting on the issue of deporting Pakistanis from foreign countries, the minister said he had a very positive meeting with the delegates of the European Union and the visiting Commissioner of EU for Migration had acknowledged Pakistan’s reservations on the deportation of Pakistanis from Europe and other countries.

The minister said if any Pakistani in any foreign country was found guilty in any terrorist activity, the respective country should provide criminal evidence before deporting him to Pakistan.A formal meeting with the EU will be held in January to define modalities for the issue, said Nisar.

The minister also said hundreds of Pakistanis were being deported from Saudi Arabia, Iran and the UAE and in majority of cases the Pakistani citizens had been found guilty of overstay.“We have no objection to it, as thousands of Pakistanis go to Saudi Arabia on Haj and Umra visas and overstay their visas. We want to secure the integrity of Pakistan and Pakistanis abroad,” said Nisar.

The minister said a crackdown was going on human smugglers and their accomplices. He said during the last two weeks, 234 human smugglers had been arrested.“Among them, 48 were proclaimed offenders, four most wanted human smugglers, 13 absconders and 165 accomplices,” the minister said.

Talking about the arm licenses, he said the Interior Ministry was committed to designing a strict policy on illegal arms and the verification process for armed licenses was going on across the country to rid the country of illegal arms.

Responding to a query, the minister said the first local government elections in history of Islamabad were arranged peacefully and no major complaint related to poor law and order was received.

He said security arrangements were satisfactory, as the Islamabad administration had called in Rangers to avert any untoward incident.Replying to another question, the minister said he will have an important meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) after his return home from London.All the provincial governments are cooperating with the federal government on NAP and it is necessary to identify all the loopholes in the implementation of the National Action Plan.—Published in The News