ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Saturday rejected the demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, asking political opponents to respect the mandate given to the ruling party by the people.

Talking to reporters at Kallar Syedan, he said the British prime minister’s decision to resign after an unfavourable outcome of the Brexit referendum should be welcomed democratically, but the situation in Pakistan was entirely different. He pointed out that two chief election commissioners of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had resigned, but none from the PTI leadership accepted responsibility.

He also referred to the resignations tendered by the Ehtesab commissioner and a top official of energy department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the basis of corruption, saying that nobody from the PTI stepped down.

He said the people of the country voted the PML-N to power in the 2013 general elections and gave their verdict in its favour through the power of ballot in various by-elections. “Democratic principles must be followed,” he remarked.

Asked as to what would be the government’s strategy over the reference filed by the PTI seeking disqualification of prime minister for alleged concealment of assets, including offshore companies, the minister in a lighter tone said: “Information Minister Pervez Rashid alone is enough to counter the move.”

About recent incidents in Karachi, including assassination of qawwal Amjad Sabri and kidnapping of the son of the Sindh High Court chief justice, he made it clear that these isolated incidents were condemnable, but must not undermine the efforts of security agencies working diligently to stamp out terrorism.

“The objective behind targeting such people was to frighten and harass the people so that they raise fingers at the performance of security and intelligence agencies,” he remarked.

He said the Karachi operation was progressing well and the graph of crimes and incidents of terrorism had substantially gone down.

He said the war on terror would continue till its logical conclusion and stressed that terrorism could only be defeated through a strong resolve and not by a message of weakness. He said effective actions were being taken in Karachi and other parts of the country against terrorists and hardened criminals.

Answering a question about model Ayyan Ali, the interior minister said her name had been put on the exit control list on the recommendation of the FBR’s vigilance wing.

Meanwhile, the interior minister would attend an important meeting in Karachi on Sunday. The meeting will take stock of the recent incidents of terrorism in Karachi and review the overall law and order situation in the province.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2016