Centre, Punjab's failure led to Faizabad sit-in: commission

The commission probing the 2017 Faizabad sit-in has termed it the failure of then Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led federal and Punjab governments, ARY News reported.

The inquiry commission in its findings revealed that then Punjab government led by Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif – incumbent Prime Minister – did not attempt to stop the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) protest in the province.

According to the report, the provincial government allowed free movement of the protesters and also provided security to the gathering.

The report said that Punjab government was hesitant to take action against the protesters owing to threats to the lives of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, Rana Sanaullah and other government officials.

The Punjab government was relieved after the protesters entered Islamabad as the Shehbaz Sharif-led provincial government wanted the centre to deal with the matters related to the Faizabad sit-in.

Read more: Faizabad dharna commission: Shehbaz Sharif’s statement revealed

However, the Islamabad administration was overwhelmed by the approaching situation amid the free movement of the protesters into the capital city, the report stated.

As per the report’s findings, then Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and the Punjab CM had a heated verbal exchange during a meeting as they disagreed on the resignation of then Law Minister Zahid Hamid.

The report revealed that Sharif had pushed for the resignation of Hamid while Shahid Khaqan Abbasi opposed the decision.

The commission termed it one of the few reasons, both Punjab and Centre failed to counter the Faizabad sit-in on time.

The probe commission said that the Islamabad and Punjab police’s November 25, 2017, operation was a complete failure as the move resulted in creating further chaos.

According to the report, both the government were trading blames as the protesters continued to put them under pressure.

Meanwhile, the commission rebuked the reports of a conspiracy against the government, saying that the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) interfered in the matter on the directives of the Centre.

The probe commission also cited the minutes of the November 22, 2017, meeting  presided over by PM Abbasi to refute the claims of conspiracy to distabilise the government.

The Faizabad inquiry commission went on to add that then DGC of ISI was given responsibility to engage the protesters under Article 245.

The DGC of ISI signed on the agreement after the TLP protesters insisted on including the then Army Chief in the agreement, the report added.