Shehbaz Sharif 'summoned' in Faizabad probe commission

ISLAMABAD: Commission probing Faizabad sit-in on Monday ‘summoned’ Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president and former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, ARY News reported, citing sources.

Younger Sharif is summoned by the Faizabad probe commission as the then-Punjab chief minister, the sources said.

Shehbaz Sharif has been asked to appear before the probe commission on January 3 to record his statement.

After rejecting of the fact-finding committee report, the government formed a new commission to probe the Faizabad sit-in.

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt.General (retired) Faiz Hameed and others have already been summoned by the commission for recording of their statements.

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 the then-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, last year, Justice Isa listed for hearing the petitions that had been filed against the SC’s February 2019 verdict.

On November 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.