Even though he has been scorned many times in the past for misrepresenting facts, it doesn’t seem that he will be learning his lesson any time soon.

The interior minister continues to spout anything that makes it seem as if he is on top of things – verification of statements is a task he wouldn’t even ask his minions to do.

In the past, Rehman Malik claimed to have arrested two people belonging to a banned outfit and involved in the murder of former minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti’s killing.

Later, both detainees were declared innocent who did not have anything to do with the murder or the militant group.

More recently, Mr Malik claimed that he had details of parliamentarians with dual nationalities, and if authority concerned asked him he would be able to disclose their names. Later on though he completely denied having knowledge of the issue.

Hence, with the grand clashes that took place last Friday when the country celebrated Youm Ishq-i-Rasool, it just seemed too good an opportunity to score points for the interior minister to let go of.

Hence, as Mr Malik passed statement after statement – sometimes his imagination running wild, at other times putting the onus on the local police and intelligence agencies – accounts from eyewitnesses and investigations by the police have decimated the veracity of each of them.

Right after the protests had ended, Mr Malik told mediapersons that the police had successfully countered an attempt to attack the Diplomatic Enclave from gate number 2.

He claimed that he had received reports from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) that miscreants disguised as protesters at Bhara Kahu were engaged with the police.

Their plan was that while one group kept the police distracted, the other group would move toward gate number 2 through Khayaban-i-Suhrawardy.He also alleged that miscreants had brought motorcycles and parked them outside the gate.

“On my directive, the police successfully blunted their plans,” he claimed.

Inspector General of Police Islamabad was asked to probe the issue and examine the vehicles for any explosives hidden in them.

The ground reality was that the crowd gathered at Bhara Kahu was affiliated with two different sects, who wanted to show religious harmony over the anti-Islam film.

However, some activists of a banned outfit sabotaged their solidarity by abusing a sect which annoyed them.

As a result, the leaders of the sects immediately called off the protest to defuse the situation.

Likewise, the police at Red Zone arrested eight men who were taking away motorcycles when entry and exit in vehicles had been sealed.

During the interrogation, the men admitted that they were auto-thieves and had picked motorcycles abandoned by the protesters on different roads around Red Zone.

Adding even more paranoia and drama, Mr Malik claimed that on the pretext of quenching the thirst of people, miscreants were carrying canisters filled with petrol instead of water.

Mr Malik told the media that the petrol would have been used for arson attacks, and hence his ban on pillion riding was justified.

But protesters and other citizens, including journalists, who were out on the streets saw that the cans contained water and not petrol.

Taking a cue from the interior minister’s need to sensationalise events, a local official of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) was caught lying about arrest of miscreants when no such arrest had taken place.

According to a source, a senior police officer deployed in front of Serena Hotel overheard an official of the CID telling someone over the phone about the arrest of some suspicious looking men.

The senior police officer is reported to have scolded the CID official, and told him to retract the statement as no arrest had been made.He also demanded to know who the CID official was speaking to on the phone.

However, the CID official refused to budge from his position, and kept talking on his cellphone. A little while later, the same forged information was shared with the media by the interior minister. The police on its part maintained that it had not arrested anyone.

When the minister was told about the police’s stance, he scolded them and asked them to “complete the number” by arresting people.

It is obvious that in an effort to look responsible, Mr Malik is simply fraying nerves.