Public meetings may be targeted: interior minister

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Interior Minister Azam Khan on Thursday, during the Senate Standing Committee on Interior meeting, disclosed that there was a threat that public meetings during the election campaign might be targeted by the terrorists to sabotage the exercise.

The committee decided to hold an in-camera briefing from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and intelligence agencies on whether international powers wanted to disrupt the upcoming general election and the date for the briefing will be announced later.

Azam Khan admitted before the Senate Committee on the Interior that he granted permission to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s close friend Zulfi Bukhari to travel abroad while removing his name from the blacklist. In the meeting, he rejected speculation that Imran Khan had phoned him to remove Bukhari’s name from the blacklist. The meeting of the Senate’s committee on Interior was held on Thursday under its chairman Senator Abdul Rehman Malik, which was attended among others by Senator Javed Abbasi, Senators Mian Ateeq Sheikh, Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Senator Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, Senator Muhammad Asad Ali Khan Junejo, Senator Haji Momin Khan Afridi and Senator Kalsoom Parveen.

Caretaker Interior Minister Azam Khan, Secretary Interior, Director General Nadra, officials from FIA, Chief Commissioner Islamabad, Inspector General Police Motorways and Highways, DIG Traffic Islamabad, and others prominent officials from the Ministry of Interior and Law attended the meeting and apprised the committee of their relevant issues.

The caretaker interior minister said that Zulfi Bukhari had requested for a one-time permission to travel abroad, which was granted by him. He said that the interior secretary told him that Zulfi Bukhari had submitted an affidavit stating that he would return to Pakistan so he was granted permission to travel for six days.

He further told the committee that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is probing a case pertaining to offshore companies against Zulfi Bukhari. Senator A Rehman Malik expressed satisfaction over the briefing by minister for interior and said that certainly the blacklist has no legal status.

Senator Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, while raising the issue of removing the name of Zulfiqar Bukhari (Zulfi Bukhari), said that his party chairman had not made any telephone call for the removal of Zulfi Bukhari’s name from ECL.

Senator Rehman Malik said that he in the previous meeting of the committee had referred the issue of removing Zulfi Bukhari from ECL to a sub-committee to be coordinated by Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmed to submit a report to the committee within three days. He said that as per his information, Zulfi Bukhari’s name was not placed on the ECL but he was placed in blacklist while blacklist has no legal status.

Senator Rehman Malik said if the Ministry of Interior had not informed Zulfi Bukhari about placing his name in the ECL or blacklist, the mistake is at their part rather Zulfi Bukhari.

The chief commissioner Islamabad briefed the committee about the structure and functions of the Islamabad administration and its attached departments.