The Faizabad sit-in commission has given a clean chit to the country’s spy agencies and former spymaster Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed. It observed that former high-ups of provincial and federal governments did not accuse the agencies or any other officials of extending facilitation to Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) protestors.
The commission further noted that no evidence was brought before the inquiry body.
The three-member inquiry commission has squarely placed the blame on the political leadership, including the then Punjab chief minister – incumbent Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif – among others. The commission held them responsible for allowing the TLP protestors to enter the federal capital without any resistance, citing their fear of threats to their lives and “apprehension of losing their vote bank”.
“Since no one, including the former Prime Minister, former Interior Minister, former law Minister, and former Chief Minister of Punjab, accused intelligence agencies or any other official of the agency for extending facilitation to the protestors nor other evidence was brought forward. Therefore, the Commission could not connect any organization or state official in supporting TLP to organize the dharna.”
During the inquiry, the commission’s report read, Shahid Khaqan Abbassi, Ahsan Iqbal, Zahid Hamid, Shehbaz Sharif, and then Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Aftab Sultan were explicitly asked about the alleged role of agencies in facilitating the march.
“They all denied the role of any organ or person of the state to have indulged in such an activity,” the report stated.
The commission’s report clarified that Lt Gen (R) Faiz Hameed, the then Maj Gen DG (C) ISI, acted as a mediator between the two parties and had to sign the agreement on behalf of the security establishment. This was done with the permission of DG ISI and COAS, a fact that was also confirmed by then-interior minister Ahsan Iqbal and PM Abbasi.
