Unprecedented: Interior minister barred from entering NAB court by Rangers

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Monday he would conduct a high-level inquiry into the paramilitary troopers abruptly taking over the security of an accountability court and denying him and other ministers entry into the court premises.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is appearing today before the accountability court where he is scheduled to be indicted in graft references. The interior minister and other ministers arrived at the court to accompany Sharif, but they were not allowed to enter the court.

Taking exception of the incident, the interior minister said chief commissioner Islamabad had chalked out a plan under which only a few media persons and Sharif’s close aides were to witness the court proceedings. But, he said, the paramilitary troops in utter disregard for the plan restrained him and others from entering the court.

“I arrived at the court, but was not allowed to enter the premises,” he said and added,” when I asked for the commander of the Rangers, he was nowhere to be seen.”

Seemingly perturbed over the conduct of the Rangers subordinate to the ministry of interior he heads, Iqbal said he cannot be a puppet minister and wondered whose orders the force was following.

He said, “I cannot desist from taking notice of this situation. A high-level inquiry would be conducted to determine who has challenged the writ of the government and established a state within state.”

He resolved to take action against those responsible for the situation. “Two states cannot function within one. There would be one state and one government,” he said.