ISLAMABAD: The raid on the headquarters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was carried out on the basis of specific intelligence reports and in accordance with the law, said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

In an interview with the state-run PTV World, broadcast on Wednesday night, he made it clear that the action had nothing to do with the party’s decision to support the PPP candidate, Mian Raza Rabbani, in the election for Senate chairman.

Saying that all political parties had been taken on board regarding the Karachi operation, he recalled that the MQM had been quite vocal about Karachi being handed over to the military for the purposes of a ‘grand operation’ in the past.

The government had provided a framework under which law enforcement agencies were to operate, he said, adding that it had been decided that no political factors would be allowed to impede the operation.

Asked whether British authorities had asked Pakistan to hand over two men suspected to be behind the murder of MQM leader Dr Imran Farooq in London, the minister confirmed that they had established contact immediately after the PML-N came to power in June 2013.

“We provided them all possible support and will continue to do so,” he remarked.

He said that around 60 organisations, including the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), had been outlawed by the government, while some 377 had been banned by the UN.

Removing the confusion regarding the status of the Haqqani Network and Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), he said that neither had been banned, but maintained that the latter was on the government’s watch-list — a procedure which precedes the decision to finally proscribe an organisation.

The interior minister also said that the Islamic State — also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh — had no presence in Pakistan. “It amazes me that people are hell-bent on creating an issue out of a non-issue,” he said, pointing out that that Daesh was a Middle Eastern organisation.

However, he said it had become a brand and some groups already involved in terrorist activities were using its name.

The interior minister said that there was no operation going on anywhere in Pakistan. Only a fraction of all seminaries had links with terrorists, while an overwhelming majority of them played a key role in educating the under-privileged, he said.

The government, he said, was focusing on seminaries that had links with terrorists and vowed to eliminate any bad eggs. He said the Federal Investigation Agency and the Federal Board of Revenue were working together to track down seminaries receiving foreign funding.

Asked if the government was holding back on action against Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz for fear of public backlash he said: “Let us be fair; if we arrest him, it has to be under the law.”

He maintained that Abdul Aziz had retracted his statement about the Peshawar incident, and had given police a written statement dissociating himself from any anti-state group and promising to remain a peaceful citizen.

Chaudhry Nisar said that Pakistan had evidence of India’s involvement in terrorist activities in Balochistan and had shared it with the international community. India was continuously trying to deny space to Pakistan and circumvent its movement as a state, he alleged.

Published in Dawn March 12th , 2015

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