Gen Faiz likely to appear before inquiry commission today

ISLAMABAD: Lt Gen (R) Faiz Hameed is expected to appear today (Tuesday) before the inquiry commission which was set up by the government on the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to investigate the facilitators of Faizabad sit-in staged by Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).

A source privy to the situation said the former spy chief has agreed to attend the proceeding in order to answer the questions raised about his role as DG (C) of ISI. The commission summoned him on January 2 (today). He is appearing in response to the second notice served by the commission. The first one couldn’t be delivered.

Three-member commission is composed of two former police officers --- Syed Akhtar Ali Shah and Tahir Alam Khan --- and additional secretary interior, Khushkhal Khan. The commission is required to conclude inquiry within two months of its formation.

According to the procedure, the serving and retired military officers are put to notice through the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Personnel from the MoD delivers notice in person to ensure it has reached the right person. In the case of Faiz, the secretary of the inquiry commission dispatched it to MoD without explaining the course of action it intended to be executed. Hence, the earlier notice lost its way to the right recipient. What the former intelligence chief will tell the inquiry commission remains the point of great public interest as many tend to suspect him as the facilitator, even if not the main architect of the sit-in which continued for one month and ten days more than five years ago. Faiz came into negative spotlight for becoming a signatory of the truce reached between the government and the TLP. Then the PMLN government had to sacrifice a minister, Zahid Hamid, as his resignation was one of the demands by the TLP. The plot further thickened when former chairman Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) Absar Alam unveiled details of his interference into the media affairs. Absar shut down a private channel due to its provocative coverage of the sit-in as police tried to proceed against the TLP. At this, he alleged, Faiz intervened and asked for the restoration of the channel which was not done. Then he managed to shut down the entire electronic media through Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, then prime minister, causing outcry from the media industry. Later, the Supreme Court took a suo motu notice of the situation and a bench set up under the leadership of Justice Qazi Faez Isa heard the case. The verdict handed in February 2019 criticized the role of the intelligence agency. After his assumption of the office of chief justice this year, he started hearing the appeals filed against the verdict which remained unheard for more than three years. As the proceeding started, the appellants started pulling out on different excuses. The SC then set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the matter.