ISLAMABAD - It is not the top leadership of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) that has cornered Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan but it was the mysterious attitude of the senior politician that has plunged him in media limelight, portraying him to be at odds with his party, some ruling party officials said Wednesday.
Background interviews with some federal ministers and PML-N lawmakers have revealed that media reports about the ‘sulking’ minister and his differences with top party leadership are exaggerated.
According to a key government minister who is familiar with Nisar over the last 32 years, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will never abandon the interior minister or corner him.
“Nawaz lauds Ch. Nisar to an extent that Mian Sahib will leave no stone unturned to make Chaudhary Sahib pleased,” the minister said.
What makes the interior minister look perturbed and aloof from the mainstream PML-N and his absence from attending party meetings is due to the unique personality that Nisar has acquired since his childhood.
“Nobody can dictate Chaudhry Nisar. I remember that when he was elected as a councillor, he had declined to listen to his father, late Brig (retired) Fateh Khan, when it came to favouring his friends,” the minister recalled.
While the broadcast and print media noted the absence of the interior minister during the two-day historic visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, there was no heartburn in PML-N over the minister’s absence as they argue that Nisar had never received a foreign dignitary at airport throughout his political career.
“Chaudhary Nisar is a task-oriented person. You will see him active only when he is given a mission. He does not intervene in affairs other than his domain. Let me tell you very frankly that only one man can dare to put prime minister to criticism and he is Chaudhary Nisar. Let me add that Mian Sahib will not mind it,” another PML-N minister added.
But some senior PML-N office-bearers believe that Chaudhary Nisar was too upright and the man of principles to walk with and this is the reason that has made him distinguished as well as a difficult man to handle.
According to them, some cabinet members or other senior PML-N officer-bearers may not be happy with Chaudhary Nisar as the interior minister does not pay heed to ‘invalid’ demands.
“It is true that some senior party leaders have conveyed their grievances to Premier Sharif against the non-cooperation of interior minister. But again, the personality and unique attitude of Nisar is not new to anybody who has spent time with him. PM Sharif simply shrugs off complaints against his old friend (Nisar),” a state minister asserted.
“He (Nisar) does not attend a phone call. We leave a text message on his mobile and he responds later. Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak is one of his intimate friends and if you ask him about the character of Chaudhary Nisar, he too will endorse my observation about the interior minister,” another PML-N minister told The Nation.
It is a fact that Nisar is sore about the way some ministers have guided Premier Sharif on some important national issues, the minister said adding the interior minister is fault-finding politician and is quite quick in sharing his compliant publicly.
“If he (Nisar) really has a serious problem with top PML-N leadership, he would immediately bring the issue to the fore like he did when PPP Senator Aitzaz Ahsan had pointed finger at him during the joint session of Parliament during anti-government sit-in by PTI,” Information Minister Pervez Rashid told this reporter when asked whether the interior minister has been left sulking?
Rashid explained that Premier Sharif was satisfied with the performance of interior minister regarding operation in Karachi adding Nisar successfully alienated terrorists in the metropolitan by taking all political parties on board.
To a question regarding the absence of interior minister during receiving of Chinese President Xi Jinping at airport during his historic visit to the country, the information minister added that Nisar has never received a foreign dignitary at airport.
“Those who propagate Nisar’s sore relationship with PML-N are those who have already left the party. The propaganda is no more working as the detractors have failed in their plan,” Rashid told The Nation at his chamber in Parliament House.