- Probe panel considering recording Lt-Gen (r) Faiz Hameed’s statement via video link
- Inquiry commission formed in Nov last year, required to submit report to SC on Jan 22
ISLAMABAD: Former ISI chief Lt-Gen (r) Faiz Hamid and PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif failed to appear before the Faizabad inquiry commission formed to probe the 2017 protest sit-in staged by Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).
The commission had summoned the former spy chief on Tuesday and former premier Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday (Jan 3) for recording their statements.
According to sources, the commission is considering the option of record Gen (r) Faiz Hameed’s statement through video link.
This was the third time that the former ISI chief remained absent from the hearing being conducted by the inquiry commission, which earlier summoned him in the second week of December last year and then on December 29, sources said. However, the first notice couldn’t be delivered.
Meanwhile, PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif fails to appear before the Faizabad Dharna Commission.
Shehbaz Sharif was the chief minister of Punjab when the infamous Faizabad dharna (sit-out) took place near Rawalpindi.
The commission has already recorded the statements of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal, Fawad Hasan Fawad and several bureaucrats and police officers.
The Faizabad sit-in commission on Monday summoned former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif on January 3 to record his statement in the case.
According to sources, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president was summoned as he was the chief minister of Punjab during the sit-in.
In November last year, the caretaker federal government constituted the inquiry commission for the implementation of the Supreme Court’s 2019 Faizabad verdict.
The probe panel was constituted on the order of the Supreme Court of Pakistan under the chair of IGP (r) Akhtar Ali Shah after the apex court rejected the fact-finding committee report constituted by the government.
On November 15, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa had remarked that the commission would be empowered to summon anyone, including former army chiefs, prime ministers and chief justices.
The inquiry commission is required to submit its report to the top court on January 22.
The probe panel has also summoned Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif on January 3 (today), sources had told Geo News on Monday.
Earlier, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, ex-interior minister Ahsan Iqbal, then-secretary to PM Fawad Hasan Fawad and other senior officials serving in Islamabad and Punjab who were involved in the episode had appeared before the probe panel.
Faizabad verdict
In November 2017, the top court had taken suo motu notice of the three-week-long sit-in, which was held against a change in the finality-of-Prophethood oath, termed by the government as a clerical error, when the government passed the Elections Act 2017.
The sit-in was called off after the protesters reached an agreement with the government.
On February 6, 2019, a two-member bench of the apex court comprising the now-CJP Isa and Justice Mushir Alam recommended that persons, issuing an edict or fatwa to harm another person or put another person in the harm’s way must be dealt with iron hand and prosecuted under relevant laws.
It also ruled that the intelligence agencies must not exceed their respective mandates. Later, the bench disposed of a suo moto case regarding the 2017 Faizabad sit-in staged by the TLP.
The 43-page verdict issued by the two-judge bench and published on the apex court’s website read: “Every citizen and political party has the right to assemble and protest provided such assembly and protest is peaceful and complies with the law imposing reasonable restrictions in the interest of public order.
“The right to assemble and protest is circumscribed only to the extent that it infringes on the fundamental rights of others, including their right to free movement and to hold and enjoy property.”
