Islamabad: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik has admitted his government’s failure in restoring peace in the port city of Karachi during its five-year tenure.
Talking to reporters for the last time as minister Saturday, Malik, however, tried to also indicate that no government had ever been successful in bringing peace and rule of law in the troubled metropolis.
“Our government brought peace across the country except Karachi… But no earlier government made any achievement in this regard,” he said at the National Press Club a few hours before the dissolution of the National Assembly, lower house of parliament. Claiming that the Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition government restored peace throughout the country, he, however, admitted that “the situation is different in Karachi”.
He said it was so “as various mafias have been operating there – while banned outfits are hell bent to destroy peace”.
“We have been able to overcome this situation to a certain extent with limited resources.”
On the Taliban, he reiterated the stance of the coalition government that Taliban on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghan border had never been serious about the peace process.
“Taliban, whether in Pakistan or in Afghanistan, have the same mindset and agenda and both are fighting for the same cause,” he said. “And they have never been serious in negotiations with the government.
“There cannot be talks with any Taliban who is wanted under the law,” he said. Praising the role of the Pakistan Army and law enforcement agencies in their fight against terrorism, Malik said they rendered many sacrifices to overcome this menace. (IANS)
