Bilawal urges army, ISI to probe into ‘matter of pressurising’ Sindh police chief

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has demanded Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen Faiz Hameed to investigate the matter as to how Sindh police chief was pressurised into registering a case against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar.

Bilawal was addressing a press conference in Karachi on Tuesday after Sindh police’s top officers, including IGP Mushataq Mahar, reportedly decided to go on two-month leave for being “ridiculed and mishandled” during the recent episode of registering a case against Capt Safdar.

“Top officers of Sindh police are going on leave not because they were pressurised by the Sindh government but by the other side,” said Bilawal without naming anyone.

The PPP chairperson said the purpose of his press conference was to express solidarity with the provincial police to increase their morale.

“We can carry out investigation as well, but it would be more appropriate if army chief and ISI chief also take action,” he added.

Bilawal said that harassing and detaining the Sindh police chief in the wee hours of Monday was a “shameful” act and it made feel ashamed the entire police force.

"Who were the people who surrounded the Sindh IGP’s house at 4 in the morning?”

Later, Bilawal visited IGP house in Karachi and shared a picture with Sindh police chief Mahar and other senior officers to express solidarity, saying: “I stand in solidarity with Sindh Police, do you?

Safdar – the son-in-law of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif – was arrested from a hotel room in Karachi Monday morning for allegedly disrespecting the mausoleum of the Founder of the Nation, only to be released by a court hours later.

Safdar, who was in Karachi along with his wife Maryam Nawaz to attend the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) rally, had allegedly chanted slogans at the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah when he paid a visit to the place on Sunday along with other party leaders ahead of the rally.

Sindh former governor Muhammad Zubair – who is also the spokesperson of Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz – appeared on some TV channels to claim that Sindh police chief Mushtaq Mahar was coerced into arresting Safdar.

Referring to his conversation with Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Zubair said: “Inspector General Police (IGP) Sindh Mushtaq Mahar was kidnapped by Rangers at 4 in the morning and brought to the sector commander office where he was forced to issue the orders for the arrest.”