Story Highlights
Rangers in Sindh
Extension of Rangers’ power in Sindh is still a bone of contention between Federation and Sindh government. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has now directed Interior Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan to visit Sindh to sort out differences with the provincial government on the issue of Rangers’ policing powers.
This week Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah met the prime minister and discussed his reservation regarding the issue. Talking to reporters after meeting the chief minister said the meeting was held in a cordial environment and insisted that the conditions placed on Rangers’ powers by the Sindh government were not ‘unreasonable’. The CM also said that Sindh had been empowered after the 18th Amendment to ratify Rangers’ powers, a right it exercised through the assembly.
Sindh government claims that the subject of corruption is a provincial matter which is being dealt with by the provincial anti-corruption establishment. Earlier, Nawaz Sharif and Qaim Ali Shah had agreed that no compromise will be made over the Rangers-led operation against criminals and terrorists in Karachi.
According to media reports the prime minister had listened to the concerns raised by Qaim Ali Shah and promised to address all the concerns with sincerity.
Afghan Affairs
Process of talks resumption between Afghan Taliban and Afghan government has been started with efforts of Pakistan, while China and US are also stake holders in talks. Officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States are due to meet in Islamabad this month to try to resume a peace process that stalled in July. Meeting in Islamabad will be followed by another encounter in Kabul, with Afghanistan initially represented by Deputy Foreign Minister.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said that international meetings to lay the groundwork for resumption of peace talks with the Taliban had to seek an approach to the insurgent movement that ensured a rejection of terrorism.
Meanwhile Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif visited Kabul this week where he conveyed the message to the Afghan government that the reconciliation process would be purely Afghan-owned and Afghan-led, and the three countries, including Pakistan, the United States and China, would facilitate it.
Pakistan Defence Minister Khwaja Asif has also confirmed that the first round of quadrilateral meeting of Pakistan, Afghanistan, United States and China would be held on January 16 to work out a comprehensive roadmap for the second round of Afghan peace process.
National Action Plan
Opposition parties have been criticizing government over lack of commitment over National Action Plan that was formed after attack on school in Peshawar to fight terrorism. In a response to fierce criticism, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism was an agenda for the security of Pakistan and there should be no politics over it.
In a policy statement on NAP, Nisar told the Upper House that implementation of the plan was shared responsibility of everyone. He also said a single government, minister or party cannot address terrorism, adding that the war is not over yet
Meanwhile terrorists strike once again, this time in Mardan in Khyber Pakhtunkwha in which at least 26 people were killed and 50 others injured. According to media reports a suicide bomber exploded himself near a National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) office in Mardan. The blast took place at a time when the office was crowded with people lining up to make applications for Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs).
Over in Punjab police arrested eight suspected members of the Islamic State group for planning to establish a terrorist network and carry out attacks.
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