ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Thursday urged not to play politics on civil-military issues, saying the Dawn Leaks inquiry report should not have been made controversial.
Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, he said the Dawn Leaks Inquiry Committee Report was a consensus document, but "an image of a conflict [between state institutions] was unnecessarily created in the media."
"Civil-military relations should not be turned into a circus. Civil-military relations is a sensitive subject, not just in Pakistan but in the rest of the world as well. Civil-military relations are not politicised anywhere in the world but in Pakistan" he said.
Without taking names, the interior minister criticised a certain retired army general's comments on television regarding the issue, saying "some retired officials mistakenly consider themselves spokespersons of the army".
Earlier, during his press conference, Nisar said a large number of people involved in human trafficking are concentrated in Gujranwala Division.
"The interior ministry has worked on catching many human smugglers during the past one and a half years," he said while talking to the media in Islamabad. "We will be blocking passports of those accused who have fled the country."
156,000 CNICs temporarily unblocked
The interior minister also spoke about the issue of blocked computerised national identity cards.
"The people whose CNICs were blocked also included Pakistanis, mostly those who did not have proper supporting documents," he maintained. "But we had to find a solution."
Out of the CNICs against which action was taken, 156,000 have been temporarily unblocked. "If these cardholders have a proof to support their nationality, their CNICs will be permanently unblocked."
He added if a person is suspected with regard to their CNIC, they would be given a chance to prove themselves right.
Moreover, the interior minister also spoke about tourism in Gilgit-Baltistan, saying people wanting to visit the region for tourism purposes will no more be needing a no objection certification (NOC) and a notification in this regard will soon be issued.
"The NOCs have been compulsory since the past year and a half, but it would no longer be needed by tourists so that tourism in GB flourishes," Chaudhry Nisar said. "However] diplomats, research workers and project related foreigners will be needing security clearance."
He added this was decided at a meeting. GB Chief Minister Hafeez-ur-Rehman was also spoken to on the matter over the phone.
Red warrants on Altaf Hussain
Nisar said that before June 15 red warrants will be given to Interpol on Altaf Hussain.
“We are working on the red warrants from scratch. We have to take some documents from Interpol. We will issue red warrants before June 15 to Interpol on Altaf Hussain. The legal aspect of the warrants will be very strong.”
Khannani and Kalia
Nisar said that the previous government started investigations against Khannani and Kalia in 2007-08, however, it also abruptly ended it in cooperation with the thieves.
“When I started looking at the case I was told all evidences in the case have been lost,” he said.
Nisar claimed that from 2005-08, Rs100bn were illegally sent outside Pakistan. “FBI have found evidence of 14 lakh transactions in three years time,” he added.