ISLAMABAD: About the recent spate of terror incidents in the country, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed said on Saturday that the incidents which had taken place over the past week could further increase.
Speaking at a rally in connection with the Kashmir day, he said that he did not want to comment on the talks with the militants.
He said that Taliban have intervened but the incidents that occurred in the past week could increase, adding the terror incidents may rise further.
He did not elaborate further on this comment, which was, apparently, also an allusion to the end of a month-long ceasefire between the government and proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in December last year.
The minister’s comment came in wake of attempted attacks by terrorists on security forces camps in Balochistan’s Panjgur and Nushki late on Wednesday evening.
The minister also said that ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August last year.
He said the Afghan Taliban had fought a war for years and got freedom for their country, adding that “our sympathies lie with Muslims.”
“Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and when I say Afghanistan I mean the Taliban, are very good,” he said, adding that his ministry and military institutions had held several meetings with the Afghan Taliban.
We want to live like good neighbours with Afghanistan, he said, adding Afghanistan’s progress is Pakistan’s progress and the Taliban’s success is the success of Muslims.
In relevance to Kashmir Day, he said the condition of Muslims in India and occupied Kashmir was lamentable.
“There will be elections in [the Indian state] of UP (Uttar Pradesh) on February 10 and look how Muslims are living there. Look what Muslims are being subjected to in Delhi,” he said, adding that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had not given a single ticket to a Muslim candidate for elections.
Expressing solidarity with the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir, he said, “Pakistan is incomplete without Kashmir.”
“We want your (occupied Kashmir’s) freedom,” he added. “You decide what you want. We are standing with you for your freedom.”
Turning his attention to the opposition, he said their days were numbered in politics. “Nawaz Sharif’s politics will end just like Nasla Tower was demolished and the decline of PPP’s politics meet the same fate like demolition of Tejori Heights,” he added.
The minister held the opposition responsible for growing inflation in the country, saying that they had looted Pakistan’s wealth and taken it abroad.
He said that if a day would come where he had to choose between going abroad or being hanged in Adiala Jail, he would leave the country.
“I will not flee after showing a fake medical certificate,” he added, taking an apparent jibe at PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.
The minister also slammed feudal lords and industrialists, holding them responsible for the unfair distribution of resources and comparing them with “mafias”.
“They give small donations to different political parties to silence [them] and make profits when there is a shortage of commodities,” he regretted.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, he added, wanted put the corrupt, dishonest and money launderers in the country behind bars, but he couldn’t do so because the system here works only to punish the poor.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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