Ex-ISI chief expected to appear before Faizabad Dharna Commission

ISLAMABAD: The Faizabad Dharna Commission, which is probing the 2017 sit-in by a hardline religious group that disrupted life in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, has recorded the statements of nine key figures so far, sources said on Monday.

The commission is expected to hear from former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director-general Lt-Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed next week, they added.

The sources said that the commission would also record the statement of Khalid Khattak, a member of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NECTA), on Tuesday. Khattak was the Islamabad police chief during the 20-day sit-in by Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) at Faizabad interchange in November 2017.

The commission, formed by the government under the Inquiry Commission Act, 2017, has already recorded the statements of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal, former principal secretary Fawad Hasan Fawad, and former Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) chairman Absar Alam, among others.

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The commission is tasked with identifying the persons responsible for the sit-in and recommending legal action against them. It is also mandated to submit its findings in a report to the federal government within two months.

The TLP protesters demanded the resignation of then law minister Zahid Hamid, who eventually stepped down as part of an agreement to end the protest.

The Supreme Court, in its 2019 verdict on the sit-in case, had ordered the formation of a probe committee and also criticised the role of the military and intelligence agencies in the matter.

The court had also directed the government to take action against the personnel of the armed forces who were found to have violated their oath by engaging in political activity.