Sindh minister refuses to appear before FIA in Islamabad

KARACHI: Sindh Information and Labour Minister, Saeed Ghani, has said that he would not appear before the Federal Investigation Agency in Islamabad, as the agency has not adopted the proper way to summon him.

The minister made the statement in the Sindh Assembly on Monday while speaking on a point of personal clarification in the house. The provincial minister said that the FIA must send him a proper notice at his residential address for summoning him.

Strongly disapproving the statement of Prime Minister Imran Khan that the federal agencies would be used in Sindh, Ghani criticised that the federal agencies were being used to victimise political opponents. He also criticised that a baseless FIR was being used to harass the entire Pakistan People’s Party.

Ghani said he had telephoned the Director General of FIA and informed him of his reservations on the issue and said the DG FIA told him that he was not required in Islamabad for any such hearing. The Sindh information minister said that he had first come to know through the TV that the FIA had issued notices to summon certain PPP leaders on the basis of an FIR lodged against them in Islamabad by 'some' Sohail Sajid. Ghani said that he doesn't know the complainant personally. “I first thought about whether to appear or not before the FIA after receiving the notice in person. Later, PPP leader Nafisa Shah also informed me that she had received a similar FIA notice via the WhatsApp,” said the Sindh Information Minister.

He said the PPP being a political party had taken cognizance of the speech delivered by a local party leader (containing insulting remarks against the judiciary that reportedly became the basis of the FIR in Islamabad). He said the PPP had banned the leader's speeches after taking disciplinary action against him that included removal from the party position, besides annulling his party membership.

The minister said the Supreme Court has also initiated contempt of court proceedings against that local party leader. The accused, he said, had also appeared before the apex judiciary and admitted to delivering the controversial speech. He said that only the apex judiciary was lawfully empowered to proceed in this case but the FIA had not adopted the proper procedure to pursue the case.