ISLAMABAD - Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has written to the secretary interior and heads of all attached departments of the ministry acknowledging the efforts of his teams during his stint — a message that he would not take oath in the cabinet of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

Soon after the disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif by the Supreme Court in Panama Papers case on Friday last, that automatically dissolved his cabinet, the ex-minister had surrendered his entire staff asking them to report back to the places of their original postings. In this way, he had given a message to his party that he would not take oath in the cabinet of the new Prime Minister nominated by the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N).

“I am writing this letter to acknowledge and appreciate the entire team of the Interior Ministry, including the heads and the staff of the attached departments for their hard work, diligence and commitment to duty during my tenure as minister of interior,” said the letter sent to the secretary interior and heads of all attached departments of the interior ministry.

Nisar said that he also wished to acknowledge the services of former interior secretaries who had worked with him during this period for their cooperation and commitment to bring about a qualitative change in the working environment of the ministry and the attached departments.

“During my political career spanning over three decades now, I have had the opportunity to head various ministries as their minister by the Grace of Almighty. Needless to say that the present tenure was the most challenging period during my entire political career in terms of huge and multifaceted challenges that we, as a country, were faced with”, he added.

The former interior minister, who had developed some differences with some other senior leaders of his party, said: “From the issues connected to their national security, the fight against militants to ensuring internal security and maintenance of law and order, from various administrative measures and internal reforms within our organisations to formulating new policies aimed at restoring sanctity of our laws and introducing transparency and rule of law, we had multi-dimensional tasks before us. I give this credit to the entire team of the ministry and its attached departments who have worked with me diligently and provided me the support in translating our vision into reality, he said.

The disgruntled PML-N leader said that he also realised that at times my expectations from the ministry and its attached departments exceeded the institutional capacities but they must not forget that the people of Pakistan looked towards the politicians and bureaucrats of the country for redressal of their issues. “We cannot afford to be oblivious of their issues and problems. I am confident that each and every officer has a realisation of his responsibilities and what we owe to our people and our country”, he added. 

At the end, he concluded with the hope that the momentum that his team and he generated would be carried forward and each day would witness further improvements in the output and ability of the ministry and its attached departments towards service delivery.