No rift between civil, military leaderships: Nisar

ISLAMABAD: Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Friday said that there was no division between the government and the military leaderships and both were following a mutual agenda on national interests, and the civil-military relationship was becoming matured and strengthening with each passing day.
Addressing a press conference at the Punjab House, the minister made it clear that both civil and military leaderships had the same perspective on national interests and there was no ambiguity in pursuit of the national agenda.
The minister said whenever the army chief goes on a foreign visit, it was approved by the prime minister through a formal procedure and with consultation. It is for the first time in Pakistan’s history that both the prime minister and army chief went on a foreign visit together, said Ch Nisar.
Talking on the visit of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the United States, he said the visit was very purposeful and successful and speculations relating to the prime minister and the army chief’s visits to undermine the civil-military relationship were foolish.
Earlier, the interior minister said that human trafficking was a very grave issue for Pakistan and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was carrying out a crackdown all over the country to bust the elements supporting this illegal business. He said that during the last one year, more90,000 Pakistanis were deported from different countries of the world, adding that in foreign countries, people have to face inhuman treatment at borders after detention on attempt of crossing borders illegally.
The FIA is carrying out crackdown to prevent all such practices on part of human-trafficking and scores of human-smugglers, absconders and illegal promoters have been detained and ongoing crackdown against human traffickers will continue, he said.
The minister also said that Pakistan has to face humiliation all over the world owing to this human-trafficking element. People risk their money and life to cross borders illegally but all these elements who lure youths into this illegal practices will be taken to task and prosecuted strictly.
The minister also appreciated media role in taking human trafficking to task and vowed that all these elements will be taken to its logical end. Interior Minister Ch. Nisar Ali Khan also said a meeting of the ambassadors of European Union will be called over this particular issue to devise SoP and policies of the EU relating Pakistan.
He said an EU delegation is arriving in Pakistan and would meet him on Monday to discuss the issues arising out of re-admission agreement between Pakistan and the Union.He said the European Union has been our development partner but there can’t be any compromise when it comes to issues concerning integrity of the country.
The minister vowed that he would raise voice for people of Pakistan and for fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan and being interior minister it is my responsibility to protect rights of Pakistanis.
Talking about arms licences issue, Nisar said the Interior Ministry has fixed December 31, 2015 as last date to verify all licences that were never verified. From January 1, 2016 all unverified licences will be consider cancelled.
While considering Exit Control List (ECL) satisfactory, the minister said that 9,000 people have been removed from ECL who were on the list for last many decades. The minister said that it is basic and constitutional right of every Pakistani to travel abroad and any investigative agency can’t deprive people of this right. A systematic mechanism have been devised to put people on ECL from now on. Now people will only be put on ECL with recommendation of NAB, FIA and court. The minister said that approximately 3,000 people are on the ECL now and their cases are in investigation process. He said the ECL as well as blacklisting of passports has been made institutionalised and no one can put anyone on the ECL for political or personal differences.
In past, the people on the ECL used to slip away from our airports with connivance of immigration officials but now all such elements will be taken to task for any sort of negligence.
Talking on INGOs issue, the minister said that a transparent procedure has been devised for registration of INGOs and this registration process has been shifted to the Interior Ministry from Economic Affairs Division on revelations of illegal operating of INGOs in Pakistan. Till yesterday 10 INGOs have submitted their applications for registration process and this entire issue has been made online in a systematic and transparent way.
Responding to a query, the minister said that reservations and concerns of overseas promoters will be addressed but illegal practices of overseas promoters will not be tolerated.
Responding to another query on incident of jeep incident at Wagah Border, the minister said that flag-meeting of Pakistan and Indian officials have been held and investigations from all angles are in process to identify how a drunken-Sikh reached zeroline of the border.
On question on Asghar Khan case, the minister clarified that he has never commented that ex-army generals were hindering the case, adding that he will soon brief the media on current status of investigations over that particular case soon.Commenting on ‘Hawala-Hundi’ case, the minister said that 63,000 people were affected in that multibillion scam and investigations are underway.