Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday told the Senate that his recent Mohsin Naqvi Iran visit was carried out on a special assignment from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to help manage an ongoing regional crisis. He said the trip was not intended to negotiate a defence agreement.
Speaking in Islamabad, he argued that the purpose of the visit had been misrepresented in the House. According to him, the prime minister had given him specific responsibilities linked to the crisis, and those duties required travel to Iran.
Why the minister says he went to Iran
Naqvi framed the journey as crisis management rather than a military or defence bargain. He stressed that the assignment came directly from the prime minister and that the objective was to help handle regional tensions, not to strike a defence pact.
By rejecting the defence-agreement reading in the Senate, he sought to close off a line of political suspicion around the visit. He did not, in the remarks reported from the session, spell out the exact meetings held in Iran or name the crisis beyond calling it regional and ongoing.
JUI, Governor’s Rule and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Replying to a point raised by Senator Ali Zafar, the interior minister said members of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) had earlier approached the government and urged it to impose Governor’s Rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — a step that would place the province under temporary federal administration. He said he was ready to substantiate that claim.
Naqvi said he held Maulana Fazlur Rehman in high regard but had chosen not to answer the JUI chief’s criticism over the past several weeks. Political disagreement, he said, was acceptable; using religion for commercial interests, or Islam for political ends, was not.
Remarks on PTI and politics
The minister also criticised some Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members. He said certain individuals backed the state while they benefited from it, then turned against it when they failed to secure jobs, money or party tickets.
The Senate exchange thus mixed foreign-policy clarification with domestic political pushback. Naqvi’s core public message on the Iran file remained that the prime minister had tasked him with crisis-related work, and that a defence deal was not the aim.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Wazir-e-Dakhla Mohsin Naqvi ne Senate mein kaha ke unka Iran ka safar wazir-e-azam Shehbaz Sharif ke khas hukum se hua. Unhon ne kaha ke yeh daura ilaqai bohran sambhalne ke liye tha, defence deal ke liye nahi. Unhon ne JUI aur kuch PTI arkaan par bhi siyasati tanqeed ki. Aam shehri ke liye asal baat yeh hai ke hukumat ka bayan yeh hai ke Iran jaana amn aur bohran ke masle se linked tha, fauji muahida nahi.
