ISLAMABAD: Calling upon the nation to remain vigilant and keep an eye on suspicious people and their activities, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that a responsible role of citizens was necessary to prevent a recurrence of the Peshawar-like carnage.

“The national mood will have to be translated into national action. Nobody else but the responsible citizens can help intelligence and security agencies,” he said at a press conference here on Sunday.

He asked the owners of hotels and houses to keep complete record of guests and tenants. Otherwise, he warned, they would be held responsible for any terrorist attack.

He praised the ulema for condemning terrorism and asked those in control of mosques to be careful that no terrorist took shelter there.

He said all seminaries could not be blamed for fanning terrorism, adding that about 90 per cent seminaries were not involved in terrorism and all seminary students were not terrorists; rather they were supporting “us in this war and we have to isolate those who are involved in terrorist activities”.

He called for a complete blackout by the media of terrorists and their sympathisers.

“Nobody can be allowed to glorify terrorists through media,” he said, adding that the media should have its own code of ethics. Legis­lation would also be enacted to bar media publicity of terrorists, the minister said.

Answering a question, he said a few suspects and facilitators had been arrested after the Peshawar school attack and investigation was in progress. Five cellphone SIMs used in some way in the Peshawar tragedy were issued by a mobile company the same day in the name of a woman.

A few suspects, facilitators held; 500 convicted terrorists to be hanged in coming days

He said nothing was more important than security, adding that the government praised mobile companies for bringing about a communication revolution and guaranteed their security. “But they should also guarantee our security.”

He said a meeting with mobile companies would be held soon and they would be asked to immediately block illegal SIMs. He warned that in future terrorism cases would be registered against companies whose SIMs were found to have been used in terrorist activities.

Chaudhry Nisar disclosed that almost 500 convicted terrorists would be hanged in coming days. There are cases where people involved in terrorism have been convicted and the forums of appeals have been exhausted.

He said the decision to lift moratorium on death penalty had been taken two and a half weeks before the Peshawar incident on a summary moved by the interior ministry.

He said the procedure involving the issuance of black warrants and arranging meetings of death row convicts with their families took a few weeks. When Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif went to Peshawar after the killing of schoolchildren he reduced the period at the request of Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif.

He said a joint action group of experts assigned the task of proposing administrative and legal measures would submit on Monday its recommendations to the anti-terrorism national action plan committee which would soon complete its work.

He rejected a claim by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) that the schoolchildren had been killed by terrorists because their children had been targeted and said the Pakistan Army was a responsible force and functioned within defined parameters. He said the army was accountable for its acts and it represented the democratic government.

Citing an example of the principles Pakistan adhered to, the minister said family members of Osama Bin Laden, including women and children, had been safely repatriated to their countries. They were not handed over to the United States.

He said the military offensive was launched after peace efforts made by the government had failed to evoke a reciprocal response and violence continued from the other side. He said it had been decided that there should be no collateral damage, or it should be minimum.

He said it was easy to wipe out the entire Miramshah if no distinction was made between citizens and terrorists. A few days were given to non-combatants, elders, women and children to leave the area. He said the army was following the principles of Islam despite having suffered losses while the other side followed no rules.

He said the army had been waging a war against terrorists for years and now the time had come when the entire nation should take an active part in it.

Published in Dawn December 22th , 2014