KARACHI – Interior Minister Rehman Malik Sunday said President Asif Ali Zardari had summoned a special meeting on Monday to review the prevailing law and order situation in Karachi.
Talking to media in Karachi on Sunday, Malik said that all the parties must work hand in hand to restore peace in the metropolitan city. Replying to a question, the interior minister ruled out possibility of any operation in Karachi but added that wherever needed police and Rangers would work together to neutralise any threat. “There is no chance of any military operation in the city, however, an action collaborated both by police and Rangers will deal with menace.” APP adds: Malik said, “There is no blame game, we need coordination with all the allied parties to restore peace and police and Rangers are playing their respective role.” The Minister said he was optimistic that the recently appointed Provincial Home Minister Manzoor Wasan was capable of tackling the issues regarding law and order.
Malik said collective steps were needed to tackle the growing problem of terrorism in the member countries of SAARC.
“Pakistan, Afghanistan and India are facing the same problem of terrorism collectively,” he said while talking to media on his arrival from Bhutan after attending the SAARC Interior Ministers’ Conference, at the Jinnah International Airport here.
“De-radicalisation was top of the agenda and even our President Asif Ali Zardari raised the issue with King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz of Saudi Arabia, and they had a detailed meeting in this regard”.
Besides, the minister said that he also raised the issue of kidnapping of the Merchant Navy personnel affecting the whole region.Even Indian Interior Minister P Chidambaram also agreed to take measures and tackle the issue of kidnapping in Africa, he said.He said that non-state elements were also active and it was the responsibility of all the states to face and tackle the issue positively.
Besides, he said that Pakistan gave a suggestion to work on proposals regarding money laundering, drug money and other issues which all related to terrorism.The member states of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) were further informed that Pakistan was a target of terrorists and lost 35,000 innocent people, faced over 8,000 bomb explosions, and had to face over 3,000 suicide bombings during the last few years, Rehman Malik added.
“We need international help and real time help, and we will share all the data with the SAARC countries,” he added.
