Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar on Saturday said that he is not in the habit of criticising other members of the government, but had to break his silence after the federal government was criticised for the lack of security at Lal Shahbaz Qalandar's shrine.

"'Was security at the shrine the federal government's responsibility, or was it provincial's'? I asked, after our department was blamed for the lapse," he said, narrating the incident.

"At the briefing after the Sehwan blast, I had to raise the question and ask them why there was not enough security to begin with. Why were the walk-through gates not working, and why was the power supply cut at the shrine? They had no answers to these questions," he added.

Lack of cooperation from provincial governments

Talking about lapses on provincial governments' part, due to which several terrorist bids were allegedly not foiled in time, Nisar said: "There have been numerous times that our department has had intelligence about certain attacks and we informed the provincial governments to take measures to prevent those attacks, but they did not act on our tips."

"When those attacks that we had told them about were carried out, they shamelessly raised fingers at the interior ministry for not doing its job," he added.

Nonetheless, Nisar added that: "I have lived by two personal rules during my term as the Interior Minister: To not take credit for any win that comes our way, rather, share it with all departments; and to not criticise anyone for any lapses."

'Progress' in fight against terrorism

"The law and order situation in the country has improved a lot in the past three and a half years. Before our time, there used to be multiple bomb blasts in the country each day," Nisar said. "A blast not taking place was bigger news than those daily blasts," he continued

Recounting the statistics on bombings in the country, Nisar claimed that the country had 'progressed' to the point that out of the 700 bomb blasts last year, nearly 450 did not cause any loss of life.

"That is an achievement. I know that there should be no blasts in the country at all, but to come down from over 2,000 to 700 in a span of three and a half years is a feat that should be acknowledged, and has been acknowledged by international organisations that keep tabs on such incidents," he added.

Talking about Pakistan's 'unique' situation, he said that: "Our fight against terrorism is unique, it is different than any war that has ever been fought because we are not standing face to face with our enemy."

The role of media

Discussing the role of media, Nisar said: "The media has great power: if it portrays fear, there will be an atmosphere of fear in the country. On the other hand, if it portrays hope, the people will be hopeful."

"I once requested the media to not interview any terrorists; it raises their morale. All outlets listened, and since then no terrorists have been given coverage. This has helped in bringing the nation out of a state of hopelessness and fear."

We found the bomber with the same equipment they say 'doesn't work': CM Shah

Later the same day, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that the suspects from the Sehwan blast were identified using the same equipment that 'others' said was not functioning properly.

While talking to media after an event at Jamshoro University, Shah said: "The bomber was identified using footage from the same CCTV cameras that people had criticised, saying they did not work."

"We have plans to increase security at shrines and a number of other sensitive places, I think that is more important than finding others responsible," he said, while answering a question regarding the accountability of officials responsible for the lapse in security at Sehwan.

While answering a question regarding compensation for the families of the dead, the CM said: "We have already announced compensation for those who lost their lives in the blast. We are identifying the next of kin for each victim, who will be given the money after due diligence."

"But, more importantly, we are working to find the culprits so that they can be prosecuted," he added.

CM Murad refused to comment directly on Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar's press conference earlier in the day, in which Nisar said the security lapse at Sehwan was the Sindh government's fault rather than the federal government's.