ISLAMABAD: Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Wednesday that he was ready for a judicial commission to look into Federal Investigation Agency’s role and activities over the last two-and-a-half years. He said this in response to PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari’s remarks that the FIA was mistreating his party leaders. The statement issued by the Ministry of Interior on behalf of Khan said, “I can confirm that during my tenure, I have not used the FIA for political, illegal, or personal means, nor permitted the influence of any external or foreign pressure.” “I have emphasised in my meetings that the staff are not servants of the government, but of the state.” The statement added, “I am not concerned with how the FIA was run by previous governments, but I have striven with a clean heart to build the FIA into a non-political and professional investigative institution. The FIA’s anti-corruption activities have caused a benefit of Rs14.6 billion to the state during the past two years, whereas in previous years this amount was only a few million.” “Despite this, I believe that there is still much left to do, and the FIA does need to be cleaned from within. But there is one thing I would like Asif Zardari and others to understand, as long as I am interior minister, the FIA will not be used against innocents or for political means.” Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a press conference on Tuesday warned NAB to “act carefully or get ready for clipping of its wings”.
