Faizabad commission gives ‘clean chit’ to Faiz Hameed

ISLAMABAD: The inquiry commission, constituted to investigate the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) sit-in staged at Faizabad Interchange in Islamabad in 2017, has given clean chit to former spy chief Faiz Hameed, ARY News reported on Monday.

On November 08, 2017, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) held a sit-in at Faizabad interchange against the amendments in the Election Act 2017, changing the word oath to declaration.

Ex-PEMRA chief Absar Alam – in response submitted to Supreme Court – said that former ISI chief Faiz Hameed pressurized the media regulatory authority during Faizabad sit-in.

Absar Alam stated that Ex-ISI chief General retired Faiz Hameed pressurized him to take action against senior journalist Najam Sethi and ban the former US ambassador Husain Haqqani however his demands were not met.

The federal government established an inquiry commission, headed by retired Inspector General Akhtar Ali Shah, in response to the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Fact-Finding Committee report.

However, the inquiry commission – in its 149-page report issued today – give clean chit to former spy chief.

The commission maintained that the then DG ISI and Army Chief had given permission to Faiz Hameed for the agreement. The report added that then Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal were also taken on board for the agreement.

The Faizabad sit-in inquiry commission was established in the light of Supreme Court directives. The commission reviewed the reasons related to the Faizabad sit-in and also made recommendations.

The report read that policymakers must learn lessons from the Faizabad sit-in as incidents like this are ‘fueled’ by flaws in government policy.

Punjab government allowed the TLP march to go to Islamabad instead of stopping it in Lahore, the report read. “Due to the lack of communication in the police of the twin cities, several causalities were reported,” it added.

The federal government engaged the ISI to gain access to the TLP leadership. “An agreement was reached with the help of spy agency, after which the protesters dispersed on November 25, 2017,” the report read.

Faizabad sit-in

Back on November 08, 2017, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) organized a sit-in at Faizabad interchange against the amendments in the Election Bill 2017, changing the word oath to declaration.

The protesters demanded the resignation of Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid to “protect the identity of the country”.

As a result of the protest, the then PML-N government had to sack its law minister Zahid Hamid. The Supreme Court had taken suo motu notice of the sit-in on November 21, 2017.

Later, a division bench led by Justice Qazi Faez Isa on February 6, 2019 unveiled its verdict in the sit-in case, criticizing the role of intelligence agencies in the saga.

Soon after assuming office of the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) in September this year, Justice Isa listed for hearing the petitions that had been filed against the SC’s February 2019 verdict.

On Nov 1, the bench rejected the fact-finding committee formed by the government to investigate the matter and ordered it to form a commission of inquiry to unveil the mastermind behind the sit-in.