Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Upper House of Parliament on Tuesday informed that the government was still clueless about the abduction of four activists, who went missing from Islamabad and Punjab province. However, the interior minister claimed that the government was making all-out efforts to recover the activists soon.

At the demand of Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani, the interior minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan gave these statements in Senate today. The minister said the government neither pursues the policy of abducting its own citizens nor would it tolerate this. Safe recovery of the missing social activists was the priority of the government.

Prof Salman Haider was abducted from Islamabad Capital Territory while the other three activists- Waqas Goraya, Asim Saeed, and Ahmad Raza Nasir- went missing from Punjab. The minister said the Punjab Government was also pursuing this matter on a priority basis. The law enforcement agencies were monitoring the issue and would take the investigations to its logical conclusion.

The minister said that the CCTV footage showed a Toyota Vigo vehicle following Haider’s car on the evening of his disappearance from Islamabad. The footage showed the Vigo disappeared for some time, only to reappear in the footage and was last seen driving towards Rawalpindi. “There are some clues and information which I cannot disclose to the House at the moment,” he maintained.

Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan urged lawmakers to “avoid political point scoring in the nation’s resolve against terrorism”. He said the backbone of terrorists had been broken as a result of joint efforts by all the stakeholders, including political parties and security agencies. He said military operations alone were not sufficient in establishing internal security. The menace of terrorism could only be dealt with unity and determination.

The minister said now the entire world was acknowledging Pakistan’s successful efforts in the elimination of terrorism. He called for political unity instead of creating confusion to fight terrorism and extremism and eradicate the scourge from the country.