QUETTA, Pakistan: The Federal Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal on Friday brushed aside political engagements of ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Saudi Arabia, saying it wasn’t necessary that someone indulged in political activities in the Kingdom whenever he went there.
Talking to media during his visit to the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta which was hit by a suicide blast on December 17, the minister said each minister or lawmaker must visit Saudi Arabia, and even he himself was in the Kingdom last week.
His statement came in reference to many speculations surfacing in mainstream media regarding the visit of top PML-N leadership to Saudi Arabia. Last Wednesday, the Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif reached Riyadh in a special plane and the Railway Minister Saad Rafique also along with his family left for Saudi Arabic last night. Separately, the PML-N President and the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is also likely to travel for Saudi Arabia soon.
The interior minister further said politics of sit-ins and dispersion would benefit the terrorists who wanted Chaos in the Country. He said the purpose behind terrorists activities was to fail China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
“It is our duty to establish peace and stability in the Country,” Ahsan Iqbal remarked.
On December 17, a suicide bomber blew himself up in Quetta’s Bethel Memorial Methodist Church, resulting in deaths of at least nine people and injuries to over 30 others.
Ahsan Iqbal said loss of precious lives in Church attack was actually the loss of Pakistan. He said terrorists targeted mosques, hospitals and citizens.
“Our communities and law enforcement agencies have broken the backbone of terrorism in the last four years,” he said.
Earlier, the minister visited the Church victimized by the terrorists, and expressed solidarity with the Christian Community over the suicide attack.
The interior minister also inspected different areas of the affected Bethel Memorial Methodist Church.
