ISLAMABAD: Bristling at the Sindh chief minister’s threat to “throw out” federal institutions from his province, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Wednesday that such an irresponsible remark was not becoming of a chief minister, as he had no power to remove federal institutions from the province.

“The Constitution determines their jurisdiction and these institutions will continue to function,” he told a press conference.

The recent exchange of barbs between the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) occurred after Sharjeel Memon, a PPP leader, was briefly detained by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) at Islamabad airport on Saturday. Soon afterwards, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah issued a statement in which he threatened to “throw out federal institutions heavily influenced by politics”.

“The provincial government will not tolerate wrong actions of federal institutions,” he said, adding that the Sindh government would send the institutions packing if they continued to play politics.

Ambassadors of Muslim countries invited to formulate joint strategy on blasphemous content on social media

Mr Nisar recalled that the incumbent NAB chairman had been appointed after consultation with the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. When the PPP was in power, it had not bothered to consult him [the then leader of the opposition] on the appointment of the NAB chairman, he added.

Replying to a question, he said former Sindh information minister Sharjeel Memon posed as a hero even as he faced corruption charges. Instead of providing evidence in his defence, he had hurled allegations against the federal government, the interior minister said.

On the availability of blasphemous content on social media, he said that he had made it clear that strict measures would be taken if service providers were unable to solve the problem. “Nothing is more important than our faith.”

The minister said he had invited the ambassadors of Muslim countries in Pakistan on Friday to formulate a joint strategy on the issue.

Commenting on the spot-fixing scandal, he said the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PBC) would work together to investigate the involvement of Pakistani cricketers in spot fixing (during the Pakistan Super League). The FIA and the PCB will hold a meeting and decide how to proceed together on the matter.

He said the extent of gambling and the number of cricketers involved in the scam were yet to be determined. Mr Nisar said he had also asked the FIA to broaden the scope of investigation and include bookies in it.

He said there had been many match-fixing incidents attributed to Pakistan in the past and in one such incident, three Pakistani cricketers had been sent to jail. It was in the interest of justice to take the case to its logical conclusion as the people involved had brought Pakistan a bad name, he added.

Mr Nisar said the FIA did not need to write or apply to anyone to initiate an investigation, and would investigate the matter thoroughly. He said a high court had already issued directives for an inquiry into the matter. He said the government would seek legal assistance from other countries to root out the crime.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2017