WASHINGTON: Pakistan would have to work overtime to address the sectarian issue, said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as three people were killed in yet another sectarian attack in Rawalpindi on Wednesday.

As the minister spoke at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, protesters bombarded the social media with demands for more concrete action to curb sectarian attacks.

Mr Khan said the government was already utilising all its resources to combat the militants, who were the product of the Afghan jihad.

Also read: No short-term solution to terrorism: Nisar

“They live among us, speak the language we speak, wear the same dress, and eat the same fruit. That’s why it’s difficult to trace them,” he said. “It is also difficult to pick up their communications because they use word of mouth.”

The minister promised that over the next few weeks the country will see an improvement in the fight against sectarian outfits.

Mr Khan said the IS militant group had no existence in South Asia as it had its roots in the Middle East and North Africa.

“I can say with a lot of confidence, ISIS is totally a Middle Eastern phenomenon and has no presence in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is only a media hype,” he said.

“The space occupied by the Taliban and TTP will not be made available to ISIS. They have their own agenda and they are not going to share it with ISIS.”

Noting that the terrorists were associated with groups like TTP, the minister said the attack on places of worship, schools and marketplaces were their reaction to the current military operation.

Mr Khan appealed to the international community to understand Pakistan’s problem. “Fortunately, you had one 9/11, we have had many,” he said.

The interior minister said the Dec 16 terrorist attack on a school in Peshawar had unified the entire nation.

“It even changed the mindset of even those elements who thought the military option was not the only option and looked at it with a lot of suspicion,” he said.

Mr Khan said the present government started building up a national consensus against terrorism soon after it came to power, consulting all political forces.

“The prime minister also consulted the military leadership and together they decide to “take the bull by the horns,” he said. “The Peshawar tragedy nudged the people of Pakistan, bringing the civil society, the political forces and the media on one platform and launch a joint effort to eliminate these animals.” “The nation realised that we have been wasting our time on these people who only listened to their own animal instinct.”

The interior minister, who will address an international conference against extremism in Washington on Thursday, said 12 of the points on this summit’s agenda were the same as those included in Pakistan’s National Action Plan.

Mr Khan said the problems built up over the past 13 years would take some time to cleanse, “but we will do it because we have no other option.”

The minister, however, pointed out that it was a difficult task as the government also had to ensure that the normal life was not disrupted.

“We cannot close down schools, places of worship and markets in response to terrorist attacks,” he said.

Mr Khan said while the present government succeeded in creating a national consensus against militancy, previous governments could not because the Musharraf regime took the decision without consent.

“Unless and until there is clarity of purpose and vision, you cannot move forward,” he said.

Mr Khan said the present government decided to call off the dialogue with the terrorists after they attacked the airport in Karachi.

Another reason for failing to create a national consensus, he said, was that the war against terrorism was deemed in Pakistan as America’s war. The present government succeeded in showing the nation that it was Pakistan’s war.

Mr Khan urged the international community not to keep asking Pakistan to do more as it could once again create the impression that the country was fighting someone else’s war.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2015

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