Law Minister's resignation consented in agreement with TLP: Ahsan Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: PML-N leader and federal minister Ahsan Iqbal in his statement to the Faizabad Commission said that Gen. (retd) Faiz Hameed held talks with the TLP leaders, ARY News reported on Thursday.

“He brought the text of the agreement after talks with the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) leaders,” than interior minister Ahsan Iqbal said.

The inquiry commission, constituted to investigate the TLP sit-in staged at Faizabad Interchange in Islamabad in 2017.

Ahsan Iqbal testified that in the text of the agreement, it was agreed over resignation of the minister of law. Maj. Gen. Faiz Hameed’s name was also written in text.

Iqbal said that he shared the text with the prime minister. The PM opposed resignation of the minister and the name of the military officer in the text.

“I was informed that the agreement has been finalized and could not be pulled out,” Ahsan Iqbal said.

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’s report.

The inquiry commission – in its 149-page report gave clean chit to Faiz Hameed.

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.

Faizabad sit-in

On November 08, 2017, TLP held a sit-in at Faizabad interchange against the amendments in the Election Act 2017, changing the word ‘oath’ to ‘declaration’.

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.