Interior Minister Rehman Malik unaware of Norwegian spies in Pakistan

Interior Minister Rehman Malik unaware of Norwegian spies in Pakistan

Interior Minister Rehman Malik has admitted that he is completely unaware of the presence of Norwegian spies on the Pakistani soil.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senator Raza Rabbani raised a point of order regarding the Norwegian spies, demanding an explanation as to why spies from Norway were freely moving around the country.

Malik refused to take the blame for the on-going breach of security and responded to the upper house of parliament by saying that it was the responsibility of intelligence services to ensure that prevent such a lapse.

According to Malik, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) are given the duty of collecting and handling the information about the spies and their activities in Pakistan. The interior ministry does not have hold any access
to that information.

“It’s the responsibility of the ISI and IB to keep an eye on suspicious movements since they have the authority,” said Malik. “They don’t work under the ministry of interior … [but] they are subservient to the prime minister administratively.”

Malik, however, assured the upper house of parliament that he will give the highest priority to the matter and report back after making an inquiry into the issue.

Rabbani further inquired from Malik if there is an existing accord with Norway, giving the country permission to send spies in Pakistan.

Malik contended that it is common knowledge that countries never seek any permit from other countries prior to deploying spies there and the only way to become aware of these spies and their activities is through sharp intelligence.

The Interior Minister further revealed that the forces have taken a number of suspicious foreigners into custody, along with a few confirmed spies from areas such as Baluchistan and Ismail Khan.

He went on to say that the foreigners and diplomats in the country have been strictly directed to not travel to the southern parts of the country, along with Baluchistan and other sensitive areas with informing the ministry and getting their approval first
in order to avoid getting into trouble and raising undue suspicion.

The upper house of parliament expects Malik to inquire into the matter at the earliest and report back to them.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=10049

Posted by Muhammad Qasim Hassan on Jan 21 2012. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry