House needs to be set in order: Ahsan Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister and senior leader of Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday said that our nation is faced with ‘abnormal circumstances’ which call for the ‘house to be set in order.’

Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, in a remark on September 5, had said that the country needs to put the house in order, which was later endorsed by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi but was severely criticised by former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who said that government officials should refrain from issuing statements that reinforce the enemy's narrative and embarrass Pakistan in front of the international community.

“Nations that are alive regularly conduct exercises of self-accountability, and [our self-analysis] only points out how every religious event has become a security nightmare instead of a symbol of peace,” Iqbal said. 

“Don’t we then need to set our house in order?”

Speaking on Geo News’ programme Capital Talk, the interior minister criticised the country’s political situation.

Our seventy-year-old history has repeated time and again, Iqbal said, adding that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification was similar to the dismissal of former prime minister (late) Mohammad Khan Junejo, who was dismissed by former president and martial law administrator Zia-ul-Haq, on charges of incompetency and economic stagflation.

“We are a nation faced with abnormal circumstances,” Iqbal said in response to a question on his earlier statement where he had asked, “when will Pakistan become a normal nation.”

The minister insisted that the effects of political instability were far-reaching and harmful for the country.

“A Chinese investor, who was all set to invest in Pakistan, is now reassessing the decision after the Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz Sharif” he said, adding that foreign investors have become wary of making investments in the country, which are directly linked with the country’s economic growth, because of an unstable democratic framework.

Elections Act 2017

In response to a question if the PML-N, by bulldozing the Elections Bill (now Act) 2017 in the parliament, had established a “state within the state” – a phrase recently used by the interior minister after Rangers surrounded an accountability court before the former premier’s hearing – Iqbal responded that the party had only removed a ‘black law’ introduced by field marshal Ayub Khan in 1962.

“Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto did away with the clause that prevented an individual, declared ineligible from holding public office, to head a political party,” he said. 

“From 1975 till 2002, the new legislation remained but General (r) Musharraf, in an attempt to paralyze the PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), amended the law through the Political Parties Ordinance.”

The minister lamented that this amendment was proposed and approved at the behest and for the benefit of one person – former president Musharraf.

Lashing out at the opposition party PPP, Iqbal expressed his surprise at the party’s objection to a legislation created by its own founder (Bhutto).

Amendment in article 62(1)(f)

In response to a question about proposing an amendment to Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution, which dictates that a person cannot be qualified as member of the national or provincial legislatures, if they are not Sadiq and Ameen (truthful and trustworthy), Iqbal said that while the PML-N does not want to make the parliament ‘free-for-all’, it has reservations on the gauge that sets the Holy Prophet as the benchmark of qualification.

“We don’t want to open the way for criminals, yet it is also true that only the Prophet (PBUH) was Sadiq and Ameen and we can’t measure up to that criteria,” Iqbal said, adding that the party doesn’t have the required two-thirds majority to amend the clause. 

The interior minister, in reference to the July 28 decision of the Supreme Court to disqualify former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, said the decision has been referred to as a “setback for democracy.”

“The decision has shamed our country, and so the house [definitely] needs to be set in order,” he said, expressing his dissatisfaction at Nawaz not been given the right to a single appeal. 

“Even the naib-qasid (peon) in my ministry has three rights to appeal...so how can the elected prime minister not be given the right to [even] a single appeal.” 

Rangers deployment at NAB court

When asked why Nawaz or other PML-N leaders mentioned an incident from yesterday, when rangers blocked entry to the court where the hearing of the former premier was underway, Iqbal said that the administrative report for the incident is now complete and it is a matter of concern for the military leadership.

“We will share the administrative inquiry with the army leadership and ask the DG Rangers to explain [the incident],” the minister said, adding that the DG Rangers had earlier given him a vague response the former held a press conference to denounce the deployment of the paramilitary force without approval from the interior ministry.

“DG Rangers mentioned a security threat but his response was evasive,” Iqbal said. “But security agencies denied any involvement in the matter.”

The minister highlighted the importance of the issue, adding that he understands that the military leadership wants the constitution to prevail but those “trying to create a rift between the army leadership and civilian administration” should be identified. 

Judicial review

Iqbal expressed his confidence in the Supreme Court’s ‘wisdom’ in response to a question about the apex court’s power of conducting a judicial review of any amendments to the constitution.

“We have only restored a former law [through approval of the Elections Act 2017] but some people want to drag the Supreme Court into this matter,” he said. “But I am hopeful that the court is wise enough to refrain from becoming an associate of the PTI and Sheikh Rashid.”