Khawaja Asif rejects Faizabad sit-in inquiry report

ISLAMABAD: Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction over the Faizabad sit-in inquiry and termed the commission report a ‘joke’, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

In a conversation with a private news channel, Khawaja Asif said he took the matter before the commission but it wasn’t being taken seriously.

He stated that the inquiry commission should reconsider the verdict of the report as this report has ‘no value’ as former army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and former ISI chief Faiz Hameed did not appear before the commission to record their statement.

“Without the statement of former army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and former ISI chief Faiz Hameed, the report the inquiry commission report is incomplete,” he added.

Faizabad commission report

The commission in its report said that the common perception of the sit-in was aimed at destabilising then federal government.

However, then-prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, interior minister Ahsan Iqbal, then-Punjab chief minister – incumbent Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif maintained opposite views regarding a conspiracy against the government, the report revealed.

Zahid Hamid, who was serving as law minister in 2017 and then director general of IB Aftab Sultan had also similar views, it added.

The commission also sent a questionnaire to former ISI chief Faiz Hameed. When asked if a state institution was involved in helping stage the Faizabad sit-in, he said that there was no evidence of institutions’ role in the sit-in.

Meanwhile, the report stated that the inquiry commission faced challenges in obtaining records from the relevant departments regarding the sit-in.