Interior minister braves threat to address labourers

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s decision to go ahead with his scheduled address to the Labour Day function in Wah, dismissing an intelligence report of a possible terrorist strike at the gathering, was intended to convey loud and clear that suspension of normal life and important activities in the face of such threats will buoy up criminals and demoralize people at large.

He noted that if the security agencies can’t protect even sensitive areas and installations, it is a question mark on their performance. His decision was also a message to the security outfits to pull up their socks to meet public expectations of providing secure environment by dealing with terrorists with an iron hand before they play havoc.

His reaction to the intelligence information was befitting his cabinet position because if the interior minister, who is to ensure safety and security of citizens, is also cowed down by such alerts, what will be the plight of the general public.

“Your job is to give reports and it is for me to go or not to go to the function; this was my message to them,” the interior minister said while speaking to the labourers’ assembly. He vowed to stand with the labourers under all circumstances and dubbed the report, intended to stop him from attending this gathering, as an inane attempt.

The Wah area falls in the second National Assemby constituency where Chaudhry Nisar has been contesting successive elections since 1985. Almost every year, he has been addressing the Labour Day function being attended by Wah labourers, who work in thousands in the ordnance factory there.

Like many areas, Wah is also a high security zone which is protected by elaborate paraphernalia comprising civilian and military agencies. But still sometime back it was hit, resulting in several casualties. The nearby Kamra base was also once struck by terrorists.

Chaudhry Nisar is known for mincing no words when it comes to speaking candidly not only on security issues but also political matters. His latest comment on the performance of security agencies also proves this point.

The minister has often earned ire from his political rivals particularly the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) for his forthrightness. Two days back he took a serious exception to the military spokesman’s tweet, rejecting a letter issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, approving the recommendations of the inquiry committee into the DawnLeak, and said the institutions should not talk through such posts, which are fatal for democracy, system and justice.

After his reaction, leader of opposition Khursheed Shah did not miss his party’s target and demanded Chaudhry Nisar’s resignation although the minister had nothing to do with the issuance of the letter or the tweet in response. The matter was between the premier’s office and the military spokesman, and Chaudhry Nisar did not figure in the issue in any way except that he commented on the unseemly row that ensued.

During his address to the Labour Day, the interior minister made a powerful dig at his area rival (Ghulam Sarwar Khan) without naming him. It was during Sarwar Khan’s incumbency as federal labour minister of Pervez Musharraf that a law was introduced that hit hard at the Wah labourers. At the time, Chaudhry Nisar, as the leader of opposition, had protested loudly.