KARACHI, 13 July — A top Pakistani official said Wednesday that Islamabad had successfully disarmed groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and other religious parties as part of its deweaponisation drive. Interior Minister Moinuddin, currently in New York to attend a UN conference on the illicit trade in small arms, told reporters there that militant outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba had been deweaponised. “There is a blanket ban on the display of the arms by any group or individual,” he said. This ban will be enforced for an indefinite period.
Moinuddin said the government was determined to crush sectarianism and improve the law and order situation in the country. For this purpose, he said, the government has amended the terrorism law.
Any religious group found involved in promoting sectarian hatred would be outlawed under the provisions of the amended law, which has not yet been endorsed by President Pervez Musharraf. The battle against sectarianism will continue without or with the support of the religious parties and political parties, he said.
The minister said that under the voluntary surrender of weapons program some 86,700 weapons were collected from homes. “The law enforcing agencies are recovering over 1,000 arms daily.” “Pakistanis are fed up with sectarianism and a majority of citizens support our campaign,” he said. With the introduction of police reforms, he said, the law and order situation can be further improved.
To a question about the future system of government in Pakistan he said National Security Council is an important step in this direction which has been restructured to create balance of power and to have check and balance in the country. He categorically stated that no political government in future will be able to undo the actions taken by the present regime as they are in the national interest.
The interior minister said after the completion of the local bodies election by August this year, the government will follow the timetable and mandate given by the Supreme Court’s verdict and hold elections of the provincial and national assemblies.
He, however, said in the check and balance system, the powers of the president could be increased but everything will be finalized after the elections of the assemblies. Answering a question, Moin said accountability process was going on without any discrimination against every corrupt politician and government servants.
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has recovered 60 billion rupees from the corrupt people in the last one and half year which also included looted and plundered money of cooperative scam, he told.
About the case against former Adm. Manzoorul Haq, the interior minister said his case was under progress without any favoritism and added that the decision would be made purely on merit. He said it was great success for Pakistan that American government arrested Manzoor and handed him over to Pakistan. He said the Pakistan government has also handed over a list of the other such corrupt officers and officials living in USA to arrest them and handed over to Pakistan. He declared that any corrupt officer or politician who looted the national money would not live in peace in any part of the world.
About the aid from America, the minister said, the foreign policy of every country is based on its strategic value and added that Pakistan has still strategic importance for America in the region. He said despite sanctions on Pakistan, America was providing aid and financial assistance to Pakistan for humanitarian issue and also for border control system.
