LAHORE, Oct 27: Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider on Saturday hinted that Pakistan might review its policy of sealing borders with Afghanistan if humanitarian conditions worsened there.
He was addressing members of the Lahore city district council at the Jinnah Hall. He said despite its policy viz-a-viz Afghan refugees, the country accepted 45,000 to 60,000 Afghan women, children and wounded civilians following the start of US air strikes on Oct 7. He said Pakistan continued to support Afghan brethren from its limited resources when all the international aid agencies had abandoned them after the withdrawl of Russian forces.
Mr Haider criticized religious parties involved in the destruction of private and public property. He said it was not wise on their part to hold violent demonstrations in their own country. He maintained that the religious parties were trying to fish in troubled waters and using the opportunity provided by US attacks on Afghanistan to further their agendas. He said offices of non-governmental organizations, cinema houses and cable stations being torched by activists of religious parties had nothing to do with US attacks. He said the government was ready to give religious parties their right of dissent but the destruction of private and public property could not be tolerated.
AIRFIELDS:Mr Haider said the US forces were using Pakistan’s airfields only for their search and rescue operations and all reports about the use of its territory for air-strikes against Afghan targets were baseless. He said the US forces were mainly using Jacobabad airport for their specifically ‘non-military’ operations. He said Dalbandin airfield was used by US forces only on one occasion while the facility at Pasni was meant only for flight operation by helicopters.
The minister said Pakistan was still in favour of a short and targeted attack on Afghanistan and was concerned over the civilian casualties. Initially, he said, there was little support among allies for the idea of a short and targeted war but, due to the increasing number of civilian causalities, it was being given considerable weight by the US authorities.
Mr Haider said there should be no concerns among the public about the safety of the country’s nuclear capability. He said there was absolutely no danger to Pakistan’s nuclear programme. “We have successfully defended it in the past and foolproof arrangements have been made to ensure its safety at this critical juncture of our history”, he said, adding that Pakistan Air Force was on a high alert to shoot down any plane entering the prohibited zone. He said the armed forces were alive to the troop movement across the border. “We have responded to the war threats by warning the Indian leadership against any adventurism”, he said.
TERRORORISM:Mr Moinuddin Haider said the government had started working against terrorism much before terror attacks in the US.
“We promulgated the anti-terrorism law banning two sectarian outfits and putting two others on a watch-list much before the Sept 11”, he said, adding that more than 124,000 arms had already been recovered during the on-going deweaponization drive. He said the restructuring of the police force and an amendment to the police act were the other measures in the same direction. He informed the members that the new police act had already been approved by the federal cabinet and it was under final reading. He said the police force would be soon provided wireless sets, vehicles, laboratory equipment and necessary funds.
The minister informed the members that the government was bringing in an important amendment to the police act to make district Nazim responsible for law and order in his area. He said after the proposed amendment the police would accept orders given by public representatives. But, he warned, the government would not allow public representatives to get involved in petty politics relating to transfer of station house officers (SHOs) and investigation proceedings. He also mentioned constitution of four-member police teams to complete investigation of 50 cases in 12 months and establishment of 11 new jails in this regard. He also denied the impression that the police force was being given undue powers in the new police act and said five-year imprisonment for torture in custody and strict sentence for wrong raid would serve as a deterrent against police excesses.