Some people using politics to hide their wrongs: Nisar

Says even departments of Haj and Umrah were not spared from misuse of influence and corruption; federal govt or any other entity didn’t attack Sindh

ISLAMABAD: Minister for the Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan commenting on the tirade on the part of the PPP-led Sindh government stated whenever any state institution sought an explanation from the Sindh government, the PPP leadership termed it an attack on Sindh adding that some elements were employing politics to shield their wrongdoings and malfunctioning.

Talking to the media here on Monday, the minister said that neither the federal government nor any federal institution had attacked Sindh in any manner.

He said that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was an autonomous state institution which functioned with complete independence without pursuing instructions of the federal government and it was lamentable that whenever NAB took actions against corrupt elements in Sindh it was associated with the federation.

The Sindh government is creating a mess on the issue of the extension in Rangers’ powers for the last three weeks and despite an end to the Rangers’ power, the Sindh leadership is busy making comments and criticism instead of addressing the issue in a straightforward way, said Ch Nisar.

Commenting on allegations of the PPP-led Sindh government, the interior minister said that state institutions were not attacking Sindh but those political elites of Sindh who had usurped the lands and resources of Sindh.

The Sindh government instead of hatching controversies on the Rangers’ powers should take the pace of the Rangers’ operation in the right direction by keeping aside political differences, as delaying tactics on the part of the Sindh government to empower the Rangers had slowed down the pace of the Rangers’ achievements, said Nisar.

The minister complained that the Sindh PPP leadership instead of addressing the Rangers’ powers issue launched a tirade of allegations against him adding that one resorted to personal criticism when one found oneself without solid arguments.

“The entire Rangers’ operation is being made controversial for the sake of an individual and politics is being utilized in Sindh to cover corruption and malfunctioning of some individuals, said Ch Nisar.

The minister also pinpointed that the federal government had initiated the Karachi operation with the sole objective of ridding the metropolitis of terrorists and miscreants and the federal government was disbursing Rs9 billion annually for the Sindh Rangers.

“The elements who are lecturing the government from Sindh, if one comes to know their progress; will find no place to hide from public wrath,” he said and added that books could be written on the corruption and wrongdoings of major departments including PIA, TDAP, Sui Gas and EOBI. Even departments of Haj and Umrah were not spared from the misuse of influence and corruption.

The minister also revealed that during the PPP regime, being an opposition leader he never visited PPP’s prime ministers, including Yusuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, in pursuit of his personal benefits.

Scores of suspects having links with the MQM, Jamaat-e-Islami and ANP had been arrested during the Karachi operation, he maintained.