Nisar denies handing over dossier against Altaf to UK

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Tuesday that he didn’t hand over any dossier to the British government pertaining to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain. He said the government was mulling legal options to bring Altaf back.
Addressing a press conference here at the Interior Ministry, Chaudhry Nisar rejected the MQM’s allegations and said the government had apprised Britain only of the FIR against Altaf Hussain.
He said the MQM was a political party and it should stay alive, adding that it was the MQM that had demanded handing over Karachi to the military.“All parties, including the MQM, gave the mandate to launch the Karachi operation, which is being carried out by the police and Rangers,” he said, and added that the chief minister of Sindh was leading this operation.
Commenting on the delay in the execution of death row prisoners Shafqat Hussain and Saulat Mirza, Nisar said the Interior Ministry had made a request to defer the hanging of Mirza for 72 hours after his video statement while they had requested to postpone the execution of Shafqat till the issue of his age was resolved.
“An FIA team has been formed to ascertain the age of Shafqat, while an investigation has been launched into the statement of Saulat Mirza,” said the minister.The minister asserted that justice will be done with both Shafqat and the parents of the slain child. He also dismissed the impression that Altaf Hussain was provided any legal assistance through a public prosecutor.
“Now the President House will decide the time of the Saulat Mirza’s hanging,” Nisar said.To a question, he said the death of TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah had not yet been confirmed.The minister revealed that a racket involved in helping prisoners convicted in foreign jails escape had been unearthed and the FIA was carrying out investigations to clamp down the elements of this gang. He said that during the previous government, nine prisoners convicted in murder and smuggling cases in different foreign countries were transferred to Pakistani jails without the approval of the interior ministry. He said these prisoners were not shifted to Pakistani jails under the prisoner exchange agreements officially as arrangements were made to help them escape by showing their presence in the custody of Pakistani law enforcement agencies.
He said the FIA had been tasked to trace all these prisoners and out of the nine prisoners, four had been re-arrested through the Interpol and Pakistan’s prisoners exchange agreements with other countries, including Malaysia, Ecuador and Dubai.
The minister said that an official of the Interior Ministry and one of the Punjab Police, who were accomplices in making arrangements to help these prisoners escape, had been in jail for the last eight months and investigations were going on to clamp down this mafia, which also has influence in all the key ministries of the country.
Commenting on allegations levelled by the MQM leadership on the government, Nisar clarified that he had not handed over any documents to the British high commissioner in Pakistan. “I have just asked the British high commissioner about the legal status of the MQM chief’s threats to security institutions in Pakistan as he is a British national.”
He said the government of Pakistan will convey its reservations once the British high commissioner responds to its query.About Saulat Mirza and Shafqat Hussain, Nisar revealed that the Balochistan government had appealed to postpone the execution of Saulat Mirza and on this plea, the application was forwarded to the Presidency to postpone the execution for 90 days. The Presidency will decide this issue.
The minister also pinpointed ambiguities in the media reports relating to the age issue of death convict Shafqat Hussain. He said the Interior Ministry has been investigating the age issue of Shafqat Hussain and for this purpose one-month time had been given to address all the anomalies relating to this particular case. The minister said a committee has been constituted, which is viewing all the facts and investigative reports relating to this issue as in 2004 when Shafqat Hussain was sentenced to death, neither his counsel nor any particular forum raised voice on this issue.
Nisar also disclosed that the mercy plea of Shafqat was also forwarded to former president Asif Ali Zardari in 2012 but he rejected it. He said the government was not facing any sort of local and foreign pressure on the execution of Shafqat. He said there were also reports that parents of the child who was killed by Shafqat were being threatened to withdraw the case. “We will decide this case on merit to ensure justice to the parents of the deceased seven-year-old boy who was raped and killed by Shafqat,” he said.
As per the jail record, the age of Shafqat was judged 23-25 years when he was put in jail in 2004 on examination by a jail doctor.
The minister urged the media to report with responsibility as in the foreign media, this particular case was being projected as some child being hanged in Pakistan. He said these sorts of news bring a bad name to the country. He said the Pakistani media as well as foreign correspondents based in Pakistan should submit their reports on merit and truth.
Responding to a query, the minister said the PML-N government had not put any individual on the ECL on political grounds. He said there were currently 8,500 people on the ECL and there were also reports that some people out of this huge number had died. To redress all ambiguities, he said the government was going to bring a new ECL policy soon. He said now the name of any suspect will be put on the ECL for a three-year period. He said some names were on the ECL for the last 35 years.
APP adds: Chaudhry Nisar said nine military courts had been set up and 50 cases were sent in consultation with the provincial governments to these courts through a transparent process.He said many persons on the ECL held double passports for carrying out criminal activities and avoiding visa refusal. He said a person willingly surrendering his fake passport will not be punished.