November 11, 2020
By Ahmed Saeed
LAHORE
Representatives of civil society, senior lawyers and bar councils have raised questions on the inquiry report released by the Pakistan Army about the incident of the abduction of the IG Sindh Police and the arrest of PML-N leader Captain Safdar on the night of October 18-19.
The general opinion is that the report has failed to bring the actual occurrences of the incident on record.
A statement issued by the ISPR said that there was intense public pressure on the ISI and the Rangers’ officials to take immediate action on the incident of desecration of Mazar-e-Quaid and therefore, the officers acted overzealously, creating an unwarranted situation that led to a misunderstanding between the two state institutions.
Speaking to Voicepk.net, Abid Saqi, Vice Chairman of Pakistan Bar Council, said that the report of the inquiry was baselessly making assumptions regarding “public pressure” and prepared only to “cover-up”.
Karachi based lawyer and social activist Jibran Nasir who also filed a petition in the Supreme Court for a judicial inquiry into the incident, also expressed serious concern over the report, saying that the police could not made an arrest without the permission of a police magistrate for ‘desecrating’ the Mazar-e-Quaid.
He said that if ridiculous cases were being registered against journalists nowadays, would it be correct in assuming that there was some kind of influence being used to register such FIRs too?
Commenting on the report, the vice-chairman of the Sindh Bar Council said that it was a good thing that the report came to light but the army should also make the names of the officer and the details of the departmental inquiry against them public.
