Rehman Malik says elimination of terrorism can help strengthen economy, improve law and order; advises govt to depend less on IMF and WB as they might refuse loans after pushing Pakistan towards bankruptcy; appreciates Army Chief General Raheel Sharif for launching Zarb-e-Azb and Karachi operation
ISLAMABAD: Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Rehman Malik says friendship between Iran and Saudi Arabia is a must and expressed the hope that Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif will mediate between the two countries.
He expressed these views in a special interview with The News on Saturday. Malik said elimination of terrorism could improve the country’s economic conditions and law and order situation.
He said the IMF and World Bank were unreliable institutions, as they could refuse more loans anytime despite sucking Pakistani nation’s blood. He said the US citizen David Hadley in connivance with the RAW was involved in Mumbai attacks. Malik said he was thankful to the PPP and its workers for expressing confidence in him.
He said Iran and Saudi Arabia were two important pillars of the Muslim Ummah and friendship between them was a must. He said when the rift between Iran and Saudi Arabia was about to occur, his leadership entrusted him the responsibility to play role in defusing tension between the two countries.
Malik told how he had gathered the foreign ministers of both countries and normalised the situation after holding four to five meetings with the Saudi King Shah Abdullah and Iranian president.
The PPP senator said first he had written a letter to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that the world body should have played its reconciliatory role between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Malik said he had written same kind of letter to Nawaz Sharif which was part of record and he was happy that Ban Ki-moon asked Nawaz Sharif to play same role which he had played in 2011.
The senator was positive that Nawaz Sharif would mediate between Iran and Saudi Arabia. To a question, Malik said he would be ready to play his role with the consent of Asif Zardari if the government asked him to do so.
He said terrorism was a big issue of Pakistan today and its elimination could bring improvement in economic condition and law and order situation.
He appreciated Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif for launching Zarb-e-Azb and Karachi operation. He said it was the demand of the nation to move against terrorists with full force.
He said Karachi was not a city of Sindh rather it was an economic hub and the economic jugular of the whole Pakistan. He said it was a must to bring peace in Karachi.
Senator Rehman Malik said the PPP suffered immensely in the war on terror, as its leader Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had also sacrificed her life while fighting with terrorists.
He said the PPP would also support every army action against terrorists in future which would be taken to eliminate them from the country.
Replying a question, he said the financial situation of the country would deteriorate if peace did not return or terrorism was not eliminated. He feared that in that condition the world institutions might stop issuing loans to Pakistan and our economy burdened with heavy loans could fall with a heavy force and the country could move towards bankruptcy.
He said the whole nation, by displaying mutual harmony, should support the army and Rangers to flush out terrorism from the country. He said it was only possible if political polarisation came to an end and institutions work on a single point agenda above politics in the best interest of the country to root out terrorism.
Talking about the foreign policy, Malik said today the pros and cons of foreign policy of Pakistan were not that the relations with Afghanistan were not good.
“We have displeased the UAE and the same condition is with Saudi Arabia while Iran often speaks against Pakistan. On the other hand, India has increased its relations with our friends and our friends land in India ignoring us.
Our government should increase friendship with them by removing their reservations and a balance foreign policy should be adopted in this regard.”
Rehman Malik said he had exposed nexus among Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Sipha-e-Sahaba and al-Qaeda and kept repeating it and indicated the Punjabi Taliban.
Malik said he had done national duty and his claims were proved true when their gang was busted in Karachi. He said the spokesman for Pakistan Army had confirmed his stand.
Malik said presence of TTP, Al-Qaeda, LeJ, Sipha-e-Sahaba, Jundullah, and now Daesh was found in different parts of society and their elimination was a must, as DG IB had said that it would take seven to eight years to eliminate them.
Senator Rehman Malik said the statements of David Hadley were published in national and international media in connection with him and his stand was also being supported regarding Mumbai attack.
He said American citizen David Hadley was involved in Mumbai attacks and he carried out this in connivance with the Indian spy agency RAW. He said now David Hadley had turned approver and confessed that he had spread negative propaganda by implicating Pakistan in this attack to appease the RAW.
He said India will have to apologize to Pakistan for leveling baseless allegations against its intelligence agencies and spreading false propaganda against Pakistan.
Malik said there seemed lack of cooperation among the provinces on the implementation of National Action Plan (NAP)
He said the prime minister should arrange a special sitting with the chief ministers of all the provinces for making NAP effective and adopt joint strategy in this regard. He said the prime minister should himself monitor its implementation.
On the question of Indo-Pak friendship, the senator said it was a very difficult question. He said the past and present generations were asking such questions that why India and Pakistan had failed to deepen their relations despite being neighbours.
He said the negative role of India had been continuously harming Pakistan from its independence like creation of Bangladesh, not solving Kashmir issue, occupying water resources of Pakistan, martyring Pakistanis by shelling the Line of Control, involvement in Balochistan and providing funds to anti-Pakistan groups.
Malik said he had praised the prime minister of Pakistan for inviting the world ring leader of terrorists Narendra Modi to Pakistan and giving him great respect. He said the RAW had demolished this friendship at the start by waving the flag of success through attack at the Pathankot air base.
He said until there was presence of border management, control of immigration on both side of Afghanistan and Pakistan and withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan the same situation would continue.
He said the US had to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan like Vietnam. He said the US had already faced its experience when it pushed Pakistan into the war against Soviet Union and after creating Taliban and al-Qaeda and pulled back from Afghanistan by leaving Pakistan all alone. This created nurseries of terrorism which gave results in shape of 9/11, 7/9 UK and suicide bombings which caused death of scores of innocent people.
The former interior minister said the politics of Pakistan was passing through a tough phase. He said the PPP had completed its five years in power and now it’s their desire that the Nawaz government should also complete its five-year constitutional tenure.
He asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to reduce price hike and improve gas and electricity supply. He asked the PM to depend less on the IMF and World Bank because these two unreliable institutions which could refuse loans to Pakistan any day despite sucking blood of Pakistani nation.
Expressing his views about the CPEC, Rehman Malik said the project was a great anticipation for our nation and he was very happy that he was with Asif Ali Zardari during his visit to China for its promotion.
“It was our grand idea and I am happy to see that the present government is accepting it.” He said the project would help boost diplomatic and economic relations between Pakistan and China and this would usher in an era of prosperity between the people of China and Pakistan.
