The inquiry commission, set up to probe the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) sit-in staged at Faizabad Interchange in Islamabad in 2017, has given clean chit to former ISI director general Faiz Hameed, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Tueday.

The TLP had held on November 08, 2017, a protest sit-in at Faizabad interchange against the amendments in the Election Act 2017, changing the word oath to declaration.

In response submitted in the Supreme Court, PEMRA ex-chief Absar Alam said that former ISI chief Lt-General Faiz Hameed had pressurized the media regulatory authority during Faizabad sit-in. Absar Alam stated that Faiz Hameed had pressurized him to take an action against senior journalist Najam Sethi and ban former US ambassador Husain Haqqani. However, his demands were not met, he added.

The federal government established an inquiry commission, headed by retired Inspector General Akhtar Ali Shah, in response to the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Fact-Finding Committee report. However, the inquiry commission in its 149-page report gave clean chit to the former spy chief.

The inquiry commission maintained that then DG ISI and Army Chief had given permission to Faiz Hameed for the agreement. The report added that then Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal were also taken on board for the agreement.

The Faizabad sit-in inquiry commission was established in the light of Supreme Court directives. The commission reviewed the reasons related to the Faizabad sit-in and also made recommendations.

The report read that policymakers must learn lessons from the Faizabad sit-in as incidents like this are ‘fuelled’ by flaws in government policy.

Punjab government allowed the TLP march to go to Islamabad instead of stopping it in Lahore, the report read. “Due to the lack of communication in the police force of the twin cities, several casualties were reported,” it added.

The government then engaged the ISI to gain access to the TLP leadership. “An agreement was reached with the help of the spy agency, after which the protesters dispersed on November 25, 2017,” the report read.

The inquiry report also absolved the then DG Rangers Punjab, who had allegedly distributed money among the protestors, of responsibility.

It is pertinent to mention here that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was then the Punjab chief minister.

Showing displeasure over the Punjab government’s failure to stop the religious party workers from marching towards Islamabad, the commission said that the then PML-N government in the province deliberately did not take any action against the TLP workers fearing that by doing so the party might lose its vote bank. “It ought to have stopped them in Lahore,” it said. 

It also demanded action against those who failed to perform their duties and were found guilty of misconduct.

Similarly, it pointed out flaws in the Rawalpindi administration’s plan to deal with the protestors, and recommended implementation on the National Action Plan.

The report recommended sending the Rangers and the FC personnel back to the border, and banning their entry in the country’s urban areas.

The commission also recommended the constitution of a Force in order to deal with protest demonstrations in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

It further said that although it had found no proof that any state institution had masterminded the sit-in, still there was a need for a legislation on the country’s intelligence agencies.