No political victimisation in the country: Interior Minister

KARACHI: Interior Minister Brig (retd) Ijaz Shah on Thursday strongly dispelled an impression being created about political victimisation in the country.

Talking to media persons at the Governor House Sindh, he said cases of corruption, being undertaken by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), were based on proper investigations followed by due legal procedures.

“To be honest culprits and their crimes are far more in numbers as compared to NAB personnel engaged in investigation and related proceedings thus leading to delay

in finalising these cases,” he said in reply to a question. Highly appreciative of Prime Minister Imran Khan for his absolute commitment against corruption, Shah said Khan had been upfront about his intention and had always been honest, bold and frank in this regard.

The interior minister said his present visit to Karachi was meant to review law and order situation in the province and its capital, adding he was quite satisfied with the measures taken to restore peace in the once volatile city.

He said these measures were needed to be further fine tuned to counter street crimes and added the federal government with all sincerity of purpose was keen to depoliticise the police department.

On the occasion, he also mentioned that anti-smuggling operations across the country were being made foolproof to help strengthen local industries so as to steer the country out of its economic predicament. “I am sure we will be out of the situation in six months to one year period,” he said urging the media to support the cause.

To a query, he denied there was any restriction on political parties to stage protests, saying: “This must not disrupt the law and order situation”. About the 126 days sit-in staged by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders and workers in 2014, he said it was absolutely peaceful causing absolutely no loss to the state or the public.

To a question regarding re-opening of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) offices in Sindh, the minister said nothing was presently under consideration.

Earlier, Governor Sindh Imran Ismail, responding to the media queries about Sindh Police Reforms Bill, said his only point of contention was that the inspector general of police must not only be accountable but also strong enough to take independent decisions. “We want to depoliticise as well as institutionalise the police department,” he said.

Several PTI members of Sindh Assembly led by MPA Firdous Shamim Naqvi were also present during the media talk.