KALLAR SYEDAN: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan Saturday said that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal was “not a child but politically immature”.
His comments came after the PPP chairman earlier this week tweeted that although Chaudhry Nisar was campaigning to take the prime minister’s slot with Nawaz Sharif away for his surgery, his attempts to do so were not going according to his plans.
Talking to the media persons at Kalar Syedan, Nisar said, “No one can simply take the prime minister’s position in a parliamentary form of government, however, if any country decides on a [temporary] system, it will be informal not legal.”
Criticising the debate that ensued in wake of PM’s absence, he said that “non-issues” were being turned into “mega-issues”. He questioned that the premier’s several foreign trips in the last three years never created such a legal or constitutional lacuna, so why now?
Meanwhile, the interior minister said that the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) was fully functional and working proactively to combat the menace of terrorism.
Responding to a question, the interior minister said that overall security situation has improved in the country over the last three years. He lauded the performance of civil-military leadership, political parties and the entire nation who turn the tide of terrorism through their will and determination.
The minister urged the nation to cooperate with National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) in the process of re-verification of computerised national identity cards (CNICs).
He said people would receive messages in their mobile phones in the next three to four months about the verification of their respective family trees. He announced that Rs 10,000 would be given to those who would point out fake CNICs.
“The re-verification of CNICs is a national duty. I am committed that there can be no compromise on security of the country as well as nation and I will complete the task as earlier re-verification of mobile phone SIMs has been done through biometric system successfully,” he told media-persons.
The minister said there might be some flaws in the system but improvement had been made in recent years in NADRA. He said there was no place for corrupt persons in NADRA and added that the country would suffer heavily if there were any corruption in state institutions.
Giving statistics related to CNICs that were cancelled on basis of security purposes ever since he assumed office as the interior minister, he said only 26 CNICs were cancelled in 2011, 493 in 2012, 6,062 in 2013, 22,361 in 2014, 96,689 in 2015 and 111,540 were cancelled during first five months of this year.
He said 614 employees of NADRA had been sacked upon their involvement in corruption while 65 were also arrested.
Similarly, he said during 2010-2012 only 361 passports were cancelled while figure of cancellation of passports during last two and half years was 29,000. During previous tenures, he said no body was bothered and no concrete step was taken to curb such an illegal activity.
“It is a question of state and I will not refrain from any actions to safeguard its territories. We will carry out re-verification of all identity cards in a time-span of six months while two months will be given to those who have fake identity cards and passports to get them blocked,” he reiterated.
He said that no action would be taken against those who would voluntarily surrender their fake documents. “Otherwise, legal action would be taken against holder of fake identity card or passport and he could get seven-year imprisonment and officials responsible for issuance of such cards or passports would get fourteen-year of imprisonment.
At the end, he vowed to commence the developments projects worth over Rs 14 billion in his constituency.
