Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has advised the prime minister to not make the country a ‘laughing stock’ in the world.

“Nobody has any objection over cleaning their own house but instead of making statements, attention should be paid to practical steps,” the former minister said in an informal talk with media persons at the Punjab House.

When asked to comment on Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s statement in which he agreed with Foreign Minister Kh Asif’s remarks about in-house cleaning, Nisar said by such statements, Pakistan is itself admitting allegations that India had been levelling against it. He asked whether the Indian government or their politicians have ever admitted their crimes of destabilizing Pakistan and supporting terror activities.

“Pakistan is now accepting the same thing that India keeps saying [about it]. Has the Indian government or politicians ever acknowledged extremist violence happening there?” he asked.

The former interior minister further said terrorists from Afghanistan come inside Pakistan and wreak havoc on the locals but neither Afghanistan nor the US had ever spoken about the need for in-house cleaning in Afghanistan.

He said the anti-terror operations carried out in the country in the last four years had no precedence but still there was a lot to be done. The government functionaries must pay attention to them and avoid giving statements that strengthen the anti-state forces, he said.

Published in Daily Times, September 20^th 2017.