May 9 a product of arranging Islamabad, Faizabad sit-ins: Khawaja Asif
Pakistan
Calls for open proceedings of TLP protest inquiry panel to enable the people know the truth
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – Khawaja Asif – a senior PML-N leader – on Thursday stated that the May 9 events wouldn’t have happened if the two sit-ins, one in 2014 and other in 2017, were not orchestrated – a statement which repeats the stance that the said events were backed by powerful circles.
He also suggested open proceedings of the inquiry commission probing into the 2017 Faizabad sit-in that only paralysed the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad but also the then PML-N government.
اگر 2014 والا عمران خان کا دھرنانہ کروایا جاتا اور اسکے بعد فیض آباد دھرنا کا انتطام نہ کیا جاتا تو مجھے یقین ھے 9مئی کی ٹریجڈی کبھی نہ ھوتی۔ ریاست مخالف قوتوں کی اتنی سر پرستی کی گئی کہ آخر ان قوتوں نے ریاست کے گریبان پہ ھاتھ ڈالا اور ریاست کی اساس کو چیلنج کر دیا۔۔
— Khawaja M. Asif (@KhawajaMAsif) January 11, 2024
It was Shahid Khaqan Abbasi who led the government back then after the removal and disqualification of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif for third time – a development that has been reversed through recent court decisions.
It is widely believed that the sit-in organised by late Khadim Hussain Rizvi’s TLP (Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan) was backed by powerful circles which wanted to further weaken the PML-N government by tarnishing its image and authority.
In his posts shared on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, the PML-N leader said if the PTI former chairman’s sit-in wasn’t organised and later another one at Faizabad had not been arranged, then “I believe that the May 9 tragedy wouldn’t have occurred”.
The anti-state forces were promoted to a point that the same forces went for attacking the state and challenging its foundation, he noted.
Khawaja Asif said to press his argument that the people should know how the country had been misgoverned during the past 75 years [through conspiracies].
آج فیض آباد دھرنا کمیشن میں پیش ھوا، بیان نامکمل رھا انشاءاللہ جلد مکمل ھو جاۓ گا۔۔ میری ناچیز ر اۓ ھے کہ کمیشن کی کاروائ اوپن ھو میڈیا کوریج ھو۔ عوام کو معلوم ھونا چاہئیے کہ ملک کے ساتھ 75سال کیا کھلواڑ ھواھے۔ وطن عزیز میں جتنے کمیشن بنے انکا کوئ نتیجہ نہیں نکلا۔ انکی نتائج…
— Khawaja M. Asif (@KhawajaMAsif) January 11, 2024
None of the commissions formed previously in Pakistan had neither produced any results nor their findings shared with the public, he regretted. “The time has come that we face our sins and compensate for them.”
The PML-N leader informed the people that he had appeared before the inquiry commission on Thursday; however, his interview wasn’t completed. It would soon be concluded, he added.
WHAT IS HAPPENED SO FAR?
Last week, former spymaster Lt-Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed refuted the allegations of conspiring against the then PML-N government in connection with the developments surrounding around Faizabad sit-in, as he told the inquiry commission in his recorded statement that he held talks with the TLP on the instruction of government.
Faiz was DG Counter Intelligence in the ISI – Pakistan’s premier spy agency – at the time the sit-in was held. Later he went to head the organisation after the PTI founding chairman being the country’s prime minister removed the current army chief Gen Asim Munir from the post.
He had earlier failed to comply with the first notice and didn’t appear for questioning, resulting in the issuance of an another one.
The inquiry commission had also summoned PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, who was serving as the Punjab chief minister back then, on Jan 3, but he instead requested that the questionnaire prepared for him should be shared so that he could provide detailed replies.
It had previously interviewed the then prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Ahsan Iqbal who was part of his cabinet as interior minister.
THE BACKGROUND
In November last year, the federal government had formed the three-member commission after the Supreme Court rejected a fact-finding committee authorised Islamabad to investigate the matter.
The commission constituted under Section 3 of the Pakistan Commission of Inquiry Act, 2017, is mandated with investigating the sit-in to identify those who planned, financed, and supported the affair that disrupted lives in Rawalpindi and Islamabad in November 2017.
“[The commission] will fix responsibility of any person and/or government officers including those working with intelligence agencies; determine as to whether any disciplinary proceedings or other legal action is required to be taken against any of the aforesaid, if found involved," read the commission’s terms of reference (ToRs).
A Justice Qazi Faez Isa-led bench in February 2019 had announced a famous verdict which thrashed the role of intelligence agencies in the affair. The judgment later led to filing of a presidential reference against him in attempt to remove him from the country’s top court.
However, he managed to survive the bid and assumed the office of chief justice last year.
One of first moves after becoming the Supreme Court chief justice was listing for hearing the petitions against the February 2019 verdict. But most of the petitioners challenging the judgment started withdrawing their pleas as a three-member bench led by the chief justice took up the case.
