ISLAMABAD: The interior ministry has alleged that it has become a habit of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders to issue distorted and contradictory statements frequently indulging in doublespeak and beating around the bush.

The statement came just a day after PPP spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar condemned the ‘relations of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan with sectarian and non-sectarian militant outfits’ and termed it dangerous for the state and society.

Criticising the minister’s meeting with Maulana Mohammad Yousuf Ludhianvi, chief of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, Mr Babar said that Chaudhry Nisar seemed to be unaware that the Difa-i-Pakistan Council (DPC) had been publicly calling for jihad in a neighbouring country and allowing its platform to be used by banned outfits.

In a rejoinder, a spokesperson for the interior ministry said on Monday that if indeed the DPC was such a questionable organisation then why the PPP government did not resist its formation in 2009. Moreover, where was Mr Babar when the organisation held public meetings and press conferences during the tenure of the PPP government?

“It is also a matter of record that former president (Asif Zardari) had met members of proscribed organisations during his tenure in the presidency. Such pictures are on the record as they were published by national dailies at that time,” he said.

“Perhaps at that time Mr Babar was not aware of the meetings despite being present in the presidency,” the spokesperson said. “Again it is not just the former president but a long list of PPP leaders whose photographs, during their meetings with members of banned organisations, are on the record and can be made available on demand.”

He said that Mr Babar could be excused for turning a blind eye to the meetings and indulging in the kind of politicking that he was engaged in because that was all PPP was good at.

But, he said, what could not be excused was Mr Babar’s conscious efforts to subvert the successes achieved in the fight against terrorism over the past three years. From a peak of 2,060 terrorist incidents taking place in only one year when the PPP was at the zenith of its power to the current year’s figures of 754, the hard truth that did not appeal to Mr Babar or his party was that while his government did nothing to deal with the monster of terrorism, the incumbent government’s record spoke for itself, he said.

The spokesperson advised the PPP to concentrate on its performance in Sindh and keep facts and realities in mind before issuing statements to confuse people.

Published in Dawn January 17th, 2017