Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan suffered two major embarrassments during his recent trip to the United States to attend a global summit on extremism and terrorism.
First he told a gathering in Houston that there was no evidence of presence of the Islamic State terrorist group in Pakistan. He went on to say that the so-called caliphate did not pose a direct threat to South Asia because it was a Middle Eastern phenomenon.
Soon after the interior minister’s statement, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry told the Senate standing committee on foreign affairs that IS posed a grave threat to Pakistan.
The blatant contradiction in these two statements left many in Pakistan confused. How could the interior minister, responsible for the security of the people of Pakistan, shrug off the threat so easily when a key official in the government told us a completely different story.
A cabinet reshuffle is likely after the Senate elections
Next, the interior minister stated, with a tinge of excitement, that Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz had given a written apology for not condemning earlier the December 16 attack on Army Public School in Peshawar.
The very next day, a spokesman of Lal Masjid refuted his claim saying the Maulana had never tendered any written or verbal apology. Aziz was evading arrest for over a month. He was accused of threatening citizens who were protesting against him outside Lal Masjid.
Maulana Abdul Aziz is hiding in Jamia Hafsa, a seminary for female students run by his wife Ume Hasaan. The seminary is less than a kilometre away from Aabpara police station where the case against him was registered. A source said the Islamabad police literally begged him to get a bail from court, but the cleric plainly refused, telling them to arrest him if they could. The interior ministry had told the police not to arrest the cleric. Why? Chaudhry Nisar tried to explain. He said arresting Maulana Abdul Aziz was no big deal, but the government would not like to create a controversy that could worsen an already serious situation.
But he did not contextualize the problem. In June 2007, after the cleric showed a significantly more brazen disregard for law, then president Gen Pervez Musharraf ordered a military operation against Lal Masjid under severe media and public pressure. What followed was a wave of suicide attacks across the country.
US Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar on the sidelines of the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism
Before the APS attack, a video went viral on social media in which the female students of Jamia Hafsa expressed their allegiance to the IS and its self-professed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. No action was taken against the students or the seminary management. Then, Maulana Abdul Aziz declined to condemn the attack. Many demanded immediate arrest of the cleric.
From how the government is dealing with the issue, it seems that anyone with the backing of religious seminaries or supposed connections with terrorist groups can flout the law. He continues to address Friday sermons via telephone.
Chaudhry Nisar – who used to multitask for his boss Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif – has distanced himself from political affairs recently, leaving the negotiations with Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) to the prime minster’s trusted aide Ishaq Dar.
The interior minister and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif have been close buddies, but a so-called Lahori group within the PML-N has recently dominated the party, creating some distance between the two strongmen. Some party veterans who do not like Chaudhry Nisar have been saying he might be the military establishment’s choice in case the generals want an in-house change.
Perhaps, that was one of the reasons the prime minister began to mend his relations with the General Headquarters and opened a direct line of communication with the army chief. Before that, Chaudhry Nisar was considered a bridge between Raiwind and the GHQ.
No one is indispensable in the House of Sharifs
The prime minister’s special advisor, Irfan Siddiqui, claimed that a reshuffle in the federal cabinet was planned after the March 5 Senate elections. He said the prime minister had reviewed the performance of several ministries and decided to add some new faces to his cabinet, while changing the portfolios of some existing ministers. He refused to share specific details.
Earlier reports suggested that Chaudhry Nisar might be replaced by Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch. But insiders say the interior minister outsmarted the move and instead put defence minister Khawaja Asif in an awkward position. He made the prime minister realize the military establishment was wary of the anti-army statements made by Khawaja Asif in the past and wanted him replaced.
Surviving in the PML-N and staying relevant for long is like walking a tightrope. Chaudhry Nisar has mastered the art over the years. The people who constitute the so-called prime minister’s group and chief minister’s group would not miss any opportunity to let him down. The interior minister knows it well and, therefore, has opened his own channels of communication with the powers-that-be.
But no one is indispensable in the House of Sharifs, except the Sharifs themselves. But the prime minister is extra cautious, because he wants to keep his party intact amid conspiracies. And that is why he will not do anything to annoy the interior minister again.
When the PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehrik were about to invade Islamabad last August, it was the interior minister who prepared the strategy to deal with the protestors. When the prime minister vetoed some of his decisions, he went missing from the scene for several days.
The PTI chairman, who is the interior minister’s schoolmate, openly invited him to join the party. Chaudhry Nisar dismissed it as a joke. But there are no permanent friends and foes in politics.
