Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif has refused to accept an inquiry report pertaining to the involvement of the Rangers and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officials in the arrest of Capt (r) Safdar, saying the report shied away from naming the “real culprits”.
In a tweet, the former prime minister, who has been in s self-imposed exile in London for almost a year now for medical reasons, termed the report as a “cover-up”.
“Inquiry report on Karachi incident is a cover-up scapegoating juniors and shielding the real culprits. Report “Rejected”,” the ousted premier tweeted.
It may be noted here that only Nawaz Sharif from the PML-N has commented on the inquiry report.
As for the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), its spokesperson Mian Iftikhar Hussain termed the development in the inquiry “a victory of the democratic forces”. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, also welcomed the report.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had said that the court of inquiry constituted to redress the grievances of the Sindh IG, on the orders of COAS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, had been completed.
“The court of inquiry has established that on the night of Oct 18/Oct 19, officers from Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) and ISI sector Headquarters Karachi were considerably seized with the fall out of the desecration of Mazare Quaid [Jinnah’s mausoleum],” read a statement issued by the military’s media wing.
“They were under increasing public pressure to ensure prompt action as per the law. Assessing the response of police authorities against this developing yet volatile situation to be slow and wanting, in a charged environment, the concerned officers decided to act, rather overzealously,” the ISPR statement had said.
“They were indeed experienced enough to have acted more prudently and could have avoided creating an unwarranted situation that led to the misunderstanding between the two state institutions.
“Based on the recommendations of the court of inquiry, it has been decided to remove the concerned officers from their current assignments for further departmental proceedings and disposal at GHQ,” the statement had added.
KARACHI INCIDENT:
Last month, the ISPR had said the army chief had taken notice of and ordered an immediate inquiry into the “Karachi incident”, Dawn reported.
At the time, the ISPR did not specify which incident it was referring to. However, the statement came minutes after PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari called on Gen Bajwa and ISI Director General (DG) Faiz Hameed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the arrest of the PML-N leader, who was in Karachi for an anti-government rally of the joint opposition.
On October 19, Safdar, who was staying at a hotel with his wife, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, was arrested for “violating the sanctity of Jinnah’s mausoleum” by raising political slogans at the venue, surrounded by hundreds of party workers.
Following Safdar’s arrest, a purported voice message by PML-N leader and former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair was shared by a journalist in which Zubair alleged that the IG was kidnapped and forced to register the FIR [First Information Report] against Maryam, her husband Safdar and 200 others for violating the sanctity of the tomb.
In the audio clip circulating on Twitter, Zubair said that Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah confirmed to him that police were pressured into making the arrest. “When they [police] refused to do that, Rangers kidnapped [the IGP],” Zubair had said.
Maryam had also alleged that the Sindh police chief was forcibly “taken to the sector commander’s office and asked to sign on the arrest orders”.
The statement by the military’s media wing comes days after PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif said that the inquiry into the “alleged abduction” of the Sindh IG and additional IG, and the “storming of Maryam’s room” had not been made public despite Gen Bajwa’s “personal assurance”.
