Former head of the ISI, Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hamid, was summoned multiple times, but he failed to show up for the Faizabad investigation committee, which was established to look into the 2017 protest sit-in organized by Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), according to a report from Geo News.
The former intelligence head was summoned by the committee at 10.30 am on Tuesday, but he did not show up for the panel, according to sources.
According to the insiders, the panel is currently debating whether to record his statement via video link.
This marked the third occasion when the former head of ISI failed to show up for the inquiry commission’s hearing. Previously, reports stated that he was called in during the second week of December of last year and again on December 29. But the initial notice was not able to be given.
In November,The inquiry panel was established by the interim federal government to oversee the execution of the 2019 Faizabad ruling by the Supreme Court.
The investigative panel, led by retired IGP Akhtar Ali Shah, was established by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on its own initiative following the court’s rejection of the government-appointed fact-finding committee report.
Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa had stated on November 15 that the commission will have the authority to call anyone, including prime ministers, chief justices, and past army chiefs.
On January 22, the inquiry commission must provide its report to the highest court.
Shehbaz Sharif, the former prime minister and president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), was also called before the investigation panel on January 3 (today),
The investigative panel had already heard testimony from former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal, former PM Fawad Hasan Fawad’s secretary, and other high-ranking officials from Punjab and Islamabad who were engaged in the incident.
Judgment in Faizabad
The three-week sit-in was organized in opposition to a change in the finality of the Prophethood oath, which the government described as a clerical error when the Elections Act 2017 was passed. In November 2017, the top court took suo motu notice of the protest.
The demonstrators and the government came to an agreement, and the sit-in was called off.
On February 6, 2019, a two-judge panel of the highest court, consisting of Justice Mushir Alam and the now-CJP Isa, suggested that anyone who issue fatwas or edicts with the intent to injure or threaten others should be dealt with harshly and prosecuted in accordance with the applicable laws.
It further declared that each intelligence agency’s mandate could not be exceeded. Subsequently, the bench resolved a suo moto case pertaining to the TLP-organized sit-in in Faizabad in 2017.
