Ex-DG ISI submits written response to Faizabad sit-in commission

ISLAMABAD: Former director general Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) retired Lt-Gen Faiz Hameed has submitted a written response to the inquiry commission probing the 2017 sit-in by Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) at Faizabad Interchange in Islamabad, Dawn has learnt through sources on Thursday.

On the other hand, former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has requested the commission to provide him a questionnaire so that he could come before it with preparation.

According to the sources, the questionnaire has already been sent to Mr Sharif, who was the chief minister of Punjab when the TLP staged the sit-in in November 2017.

The former ISI chief, Mr Sharif and the then defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif had been summoned by the three-member inquiry commission which was constituted by the federal government in line with the Supreme Court’s directive in November last year.

Former police officers Syed Akhtar Shah and Tahir Alam Khan and Additional Interior Secretary Khushal Khan are the members of the inquiry commission.

The former ISI DG had been summoned by the commission through the Ministry of Defence. However, the commission members were later informed that Gen Hameed could not personally appear before them due to security concerns.

The commission members then decided to send him a questionnaire.

The sources said Khawaja Asif had tendered an apology to the commission, stating that he could not appear before it due to some health issues.

Additional Inspector General of Police Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Peshawar Wisal Fakhar Sultan Raja, who was the Regional Police Officer Rawalpindi, at the time of the sit-in, appeared before the commission and recorded his statement

The commission has prepared the questionnaire in line with the Terms of Reference (ToR) and directives of the Supreme Court and its judgement in the Faizabad sit-in case.

The commission is finding answers to some key questions, including why efforts were not made to intercept the TLP protesters before reaching Islamabad; why efforts were not made to remove them from the sit-in venue; how an operation conducted against them by the police failed and who provided financial and materialistic support to the TLP for the sit-in.

The sources said Mr Sharif was likely to be questioned about the role of his office during the TLP’s long march towards Islamabad, including any efforts made to intercept them and orders issued in this regard from his office.

Besides, if such directives were issued from the office of the chief minister why the same were not implemented and who failed to execute them.

The commission has already questioned former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former chairman of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) Absar Alam and former inspector general of police Punjab Arif Nawaz.

Besides, the staff of a famous food outlet in Islamabad was also called and inquired about those who purchased food in bulk for the participants of the sit-in and paid for it.

The commission has got almost all relevant records during the TLP’s sit-in from the departments concerned.