ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar on Thursday claimed there was complete civil-military consensus on the Dawn Leaks inquiry report.
“It wasn’t as big of an issue as it was made out to be,” Nisar told reporters, a day after Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor announced the decision to withdraw his tweet rejecting the prime minister’s directives on the recommendations of Dawn Leaks inquiry committee.
The interior minister claimed there was ‘complete consensus’ on the inquiry report despite there being ‘some procedural issues’ when it was announced. “The order released from the PM’s Office … it was an order to all ministries. The notification should not have been spread. When that happened, there was a misunderstanding that snowballed and has been rectified now,” he said.
“If the government wanted to hide something, it wouldn’t have made a committee and a big commission,” Nisar claimed. “You shouldn’t make a joke of civil-military relations,” the interior minister cautioned members of the press. “It is a sensitive subject, not just in Pakistan but around the world. There shouldn’t be any politics on it, and there isn’t anywhere in the world except in Pakistan,” he said.
“Civil-military conflicts are not political, they are national [issues],” Nisar said. “It is a sensitive area. There were senior leaders present in the meetings and senior military leaders as well. There was no discord in the meetings, they were very composed. Differences exist, but they were civil,” he said. “The matter is settled now,” he asserted.
Taking a jibe at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the interior minister said, “If someone wants to play cricket or hockey over the issue, they should find some other forum.”
Ch Nisar said preparations were underway for issue of red warrants for Altaf Hussain through Interpol before 15th of next month. He said there was a strong legal aspect of the case. The interior minister said the condition of NOC for visit to Gilgit-Baltistan by foreign tourists has been withdrawn. He, however, said diplomats, international NGOs, research workers and project-related foreigners working in Gilgit-Baltistan would require security clearance before visiting the region.
The interior minister said the crime of illegal human organ transplantation has been included in the FIA schedule and the agency would proactively work against the menace during the next few weeks.
He said the government was also working to include the crime of food adulteration in the schedule of FIA. In the first stage, imported food would be checked at importer and distributor level by the FIA to ensure these items were not expired or injurious to health. In the second stage, ordinary food items would also be brought into the domain of the FIA, he said.
