Pak Interior Minister decides to challenge findings of Quetta carnage report

Islamabad [Pakistan], Jan. 4 (ANI): Pakistan's Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has decided to challenge the findings of the Quetta Commission report. Dawn quoted a source in the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), which says that "responses" and "arguments" will be presented in the Supreme Court, in response to a report probing the Quetta Civil Hospital carnage. The source said that the authority has sent its response regarding the report to the interior minister. "Hopefully, he will submit the response to the Supreme Court in a day or two," a senior NACTA official said. A NACTA official said the interior minister was advised by the top ministry officials against challenging the report of the Supreme Court, but he was adamant on challenging the report. The official added that the authority was directed by the minister to prepare strong arguments in response to the allegations labelled against the interior ministry and Chaudhary Nisar. Advocate Makhdoom Ali Khan will represent the interior minister, who is the petitioner in the case, in the Supreme Court. At least 74 people were killed and many others were injured in a suicide attack, in the Government Hospital of Quetta on August 8, last year. Based on investigations into the Quetta incident, the report of the commission, headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa, said Nisar "displayed little sense of ministerial responsibility" and that there was a continued delay on part of his ministry to take steps against militant groups and proscribed organisations. Nisar had described the report to be one sided and said that it was released without including the interior ministry's narrative (ANI)