Caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti on Monday claimed that any security forces personnel found guilty of facilitating cross-border smuggling will be court-martialed.
“If I say that security forces weren’t involved in [smuggling], it won’t be right as the items are transported via trucks, not camels,” he told a press conference in Islamabad while responding to a question on reports of military personnel’s alleged involvement in smuggling.
Emphasizing that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen. Asim Munir had told military personnel that anyone found involved in illegal cross-border trade would be penalized, he added: “Pakistan’s Army chief has told his people very clearly: there won’t only be court-martials, but those involved in such activities would also be sent to jail.”
According to Bugti, the Army’s accountability mechanism is rarely made public, preventing citizens from realizing what actions are taken against illegal actions. “But the Army has its own accountability, and we have not just seen it in this instance, but post-May 9 as well,” he added.
Last month, the government initiated a massive crackdown on smuggler of commodities and dollars to Afghanistan as part of efforts to shore up the rupee against the U.S. dollar and revive the national economy. The crackdown has already shown dividends, with the rupee continuing to recover against the greenback after hitting record lows. However, analysts fear the relief could be short-lived, maintaining the structural problems of the economy have yet to be tackled.
During his press conference, the interim interior minister said the government was not only taking action against smugglers, but also appreciating law enforcers for their part in the ongoing crackdown against people involved in illegal activities. “The state will deal with hawala, hundi, and other illegal activities with an iron fist,” he warned, adding authorities had recently recovered 8,000 metric tons of sugar that were being hoarded and causing price hikes. He said action was also underway against petrol pump stations selling substandard fuel and illegally imported oil from Iran.
To a question, Bugti said a database was being compiled of trucks being used in smuggling. He said the government wished to strongly discourage the use of informal networks of hawala and hundi for money exchange, adding 168 FIRs had already been registered against people involved in the dollar’s illegal trade.
Responding to a question on Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Nawaz Sharif’s planned return to Pakistan on Oct. 21, the caretaker minister said this was an “encouraging” development. “I am still saying, despite what PMLN leaders have said about me, that Nawaz Sharif is the leader who came back to the country with his daughter [to be arrested],” he said. “If he was afraid of going to jail, he would not have come back,” he added.