ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday alleged that some political elements wanted to pit the government and state institutions against each other to achieve their ulterior motives.

In his first formal interaction with the media after assuming office, he said a malicious propaganda was being unleashed by these elements, but made it clear that such conspiracies would never be allowed to succeed. He vowed to fight all those who posed a threat to the Constitution and peaceful democracy. “Defining red line is law, Constitution and democracy.”

The minister said that at a time when some lobbies on the external front were trying to economically weaken Pakistan, a complete national unity was the need of the hour.

About US President Donald Trump’s criticism of Pakistan in his first formal address to the nation as commander-in-chief, Mr Iqbal said Pakistan had paid the price of terrorism more than any other country. “Pakistan’s commitment to eradicating terrorism is not for the US, but for its own sake,” he said, adding that peace and development were inextricably interlinked.

Vows to carry forward initiatives taken by his predecessor

Outlining priorities of his ministry in the remaining 10 months of the PML-N government, he said the initiatives taken by his predecessor Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and the achievements made during his term would be carried forward.

He conceded that the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) tasked with implementing the National Action Plan (NAP) could not become as effective as it should have been. Making the NAP a complete success and strengthening Nacta would rank on top of his priorities, he said, adding that all the chief ministers had been invited to a meeting on Wednesday (today) to review the plan to ensure that Pakistan won the war against terrorism.

The minister said a counter-narrative against extremism would be developed to change the extremist views of youth and pull them towards education and excellence in science and technology to meet the present day challenges.

The policy of the government was zero tolerance for crime, but peaceful democratic activities would be respected, he said, adding that there would be zero tolerance for those who disrupted peace.

He said law and order was the prime responsibility of the provinces and the interior ministry would plat its role in improving coordination among them in this regard, besides monitoring the whole situation.

In reply to a question about the alleged policy of ‘good and bad Taliban’, the minister said there was no issue of good or bad Taliban but of Pakistan’s fight for the supremacy of the Constitution and democracy.

He said he had held his first meeting at the Nacta office so that coordination between security and intelligence institutions could also be improved.

Mr Iqbal said the director general of the Federal Investigation Agency had been asked to eradicate corruption from the agency and point out black sheep. “We have decided to reactivate the civil defence department. The ICT (Islamabad Capital Territory) Administration has been directed to complete computerisation of land and revenue record within six months.”

The minister said the civil armed forces, having strength of 200,000 personnel, working under the administrative control of the interior ministry, would be modernised and equipped with advanced weaponry, and an integrated act would be introduced to provide equal perks and privileges to all civil armed forces.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2017