KARACHI: Revelations about Quetta carnage likely, says Faisal
KARACHI, July 10: Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat has said the investigation into the Quetta carnage is still in progress and more will be known about the background to the incident in the coming days.
“It was an attempt to destabilize the government and the country, and we have an idea as to what forces could be involved in it from within and outside the country”, he said while replying to newsmen’s questions after attending a briefing on the working and achievements of the National Aliens Registration Authority (NARA) at its headquarter here on Thursday.
When asked if there was any resemblance between the attack on the Pakistan embassy in Kabul and the attack on the Imam Bargah in Quetta, the interior minister said the attack on the Pakistan embassy was highly regrettable and it was the responsibility of the Afghan government to provide complete protection to Pakistan’s embassy, consulates and missions in that country.
“For any embassy, consulate or mission functioning in Pakistan, it is the responsibility of the government to give them complete protection and security. It would amount to a failure of the government if it were unable to provide that protection, and by the grace of Allah, no such inci-dent ever occurred in Pakistan,” he said.
He went on to say that Pakistan did realize the internal problems of the Afghan government, but it hoped that they would abide by international norms and regulations and conventions, and ensure provision of complete security to the Pakistani embassy and missions.
The interior minister said that Pakistan was faced with many challenges of security and law and order. “The region where we are living has its own demands, dynamics and ground realities which we have to face”.
He said the government was implementing a well thought-out policy to counter all kinds of extremism, and the agencies and law enforcing organizations were alert round the clock to check terrorism which ‘today has become a worldwide phenomenon’.
“The problem of terrorism is not confined to one country. If countries do not cooperate with each other and integrate their efforts, we may not counter terrorism rightly and effectively,” he said.
He further said that Pakistan had been pursuing the policy of not allowing the soil of Pakistan for any act of terrorism at home or outside, and hopefully the neighbouring and other countries in the region would take steps to show and prove that their soil was not being used for terrorism or any other act against Pakistan.
When it was pointed out that Balochistan’s home minister Sanaullah Zehri had admitted his responsibility and resigned from the office, but no action had been taken against high police officials in the case of Quetta killings, he said that investigation into the matter was still going on.
He declared that action would certainly be taken against all those found responsible for the tragedy, whether government officials or anyone else. When a questioner sought his comments on the demand by the opposition parties for his resignation, the minister said he had come to know about that just then from the questioner.
To a question about the ongoing operation against robbers at the Sindh-Balochistan border, he pointed out it had been a demand of the people of the area for long. He added that the operation was being carried out successfully and outlaws would be eliminated.—APP
