COAS has trust of nation, govt, army: Nisar

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif is enjoying confidence of the government, the armed forces and the entire nation and the people of the country are standing behind the army.
He said that no conspiracy was hatched in the army to oust General Raheel Sharif.Addressing a press conference at the Nadra headquarters on Monday, the minister said speaking against the army was harmful for the country and the military.
Ruling out the possibility of any conspiracy against the COAS, the interior minister said, “It is a baseless speculation, we have complete trust in the incumbent top command of our military.”The interior minister said, “Our army is a professional and disciplined force and enjoying a unique and consummate status in the world.”
He said that the nation should stand by the army chief as the country was in a state of war. He said the army was the only institution that had achieved success in guerrilla war, adding that the Pakistan Army was the only fighting force in the entire world which won the battle against terrorists. “We need an army chief like General Raheel Sharif who has earned national and international fame and therefore, we need him to fight the militants,” he said adding that such ‘baseless rumours’ were being spread by ‘enemies’ of Pakistan.
He went on to say that Gen Raheel Sharif had won the heart of every Pakistani in a year and a half.Nisar further said that an official inquiry could be conducted into hate speeches against the army. “The inquiry would be conducted if needed as currently the priority for the federal government is to solve issues rather than to prolong them,” he said.
“It is difficult to run day-to-day affairs of the government in these circumstances,” Ch Nisar said adding that the government had to face different unnecessary challenges creating hurdles in progress and development. He said that they should concentrate on financial problems as well as security issues adding that a comprehensive book could be authored on the Tehreek-e-Insaf’s ‘Dharna’ episode.
Earlier, the interior minister inaugurated an online system for the renewal of CNICs. Addressing the inaugural ceremony of Computerised National Identity Cards (CNIC), the interior minister said that better services were being introduced in the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) in the next six months.
The interior minister also said that Nadra was going to establish a DNA laboratory in the next six months which would facilitate all the law enforcement agencies to carry out investigation of cases. He added that the authority would introduce 13 next generation business centers of international standards to facilitate the masses in the next six to seven months. “Now there is no need to come to the Nadra office for renewal of identity cards as this facility is being provided online.”
Nisar said a tracking system had been introduced in Nadra through which one could know the status of one’s CNIC, adding that a citizen would have to come to the Nadra office for the first time for biometric verification for acquiring a CNIC.
Nisar also said that services of Nadra had improved a lot and thousands of fake identity cards had so far been blocked. He also wished to make Nadra a transparent and corruption-free organisation.
He added, “We are going to centralise the entire data to end corruption and to ensure online verification of identity cards.”He further said that Nadra had earned a profit of five billion rupees, adding that there was a backlog of 650,000 cards, but now it had become zero within six months. He lauded the hard work of the Nadra employees to end the backlog and to make the organisation a profitable institution.
Nisar said the step had been taken to provide relief to the people as they would no longer have to stand in long queues outside the Nadra centres.
“With a single click, the people will be able to renew their identity cards on computers and get updates on the status of their application through the new online system,” he said.He also said that a DNA testing lab would be established under Nadra which would work to facilitate the armed forces of the country.
Nisar also announced that the government planned to set up 13 international level business centres in the next seven months, which would work as one-stop place for issuance of identity cards and passports.
“The information of birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates will be digitalised and centralised to avoid issuance of fake documents,” he stressed.Providing statistics, the interior minister said some 64,000 passports were blocked last year, adding the institution had earned Rs5 billion for the government.
Nisar reiterated that the government was making utmost efforts to ensure not a single incompetent and corrupt officer should work at Nadra. Nisar also said that Nadra had been turned into a profitable organisation.“Nadra’s performance is satisfactory,” he said, adding that it had earned a profit of billions of rupees this year.