Army chief orders probe into ‘Karachi incident’

Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has ordered an inquiry into the ‘Karachi incident’ -- events that led to registration of a first information report (FIR) against PML-N’s Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar and his subsequent arrest during a visit to Sindh provincial capital.

“Taking notice of the Karachi incident, the COAS [chief of the army staff] has directed the Karachi Corps Commander to immediately inquire into the circumstances to determine the facts and report back as soon as possible,” said a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Tuesday.

The development came after PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, while addressing a news conference, requested the army chief and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Faiz Hameed to investigate how the Sindh police chief was pressured into registering a case against the PML-N leader.

In a high drama, Captain (retd) Safdar – the son-in-law of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif -- was arrested from the hotel room of his wife Maryam Nawaz in Karachi on 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.

“Police broke my room door at the hotel I was staying at in Karachi and arrested Capt. Safdar,” the PML-N vice president tweeted soon after Safdar’s arrest, setting off a political storm.

The PDM leaders had termed it an attempt by the federal government and its agencies, which “kidnapped the provincial police chief and forced him into signing the arrest order”.

Soon after the arrest, former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair – who is also the spokesperson of Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz – appeared on some TV channels to claim that Sindh Inspector General Police (IGP) Mushtaq Mahar was coerced into arresting Safdar.

Referring to his conversation with Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Zubair had claimed that Sindh police chief Mushtaq Mahar was kidnapped by Rangers at 4 in the morning and brought to a military office where he was forced to issue the orders for the arrest.

Later, when Maryam and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Asharaf addressed a press conference, Fazl had also endorsed Zubair’s statement. “I have talked to the chief minister who said the IGP was kidnapped and forced to sign on arrest warrants,” he had said.

The arrest had come as a huge embarrassment for the PPP which rules over the Sindh province and which had hosted the Sunday PDM power show in Karachi at the 13th anniversary of deadly bomb blasts at a PPP rally in 2007.

PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had later issued a statement, saying he was shocked to hear about the incident. He had noted that the Sindh government was not informed about the arrest and he had asked the chief minister to investigate the incident and to take all measures to release Safdar.

Addressing the media on Tuesday after a press conference of Sindh chief minister, Bilawal revealed that Sindh police’s top officers including IGP Mushataq Mahar had decided to go on two-month leave for being “ridiculed and mishandled”.

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

Terming the manner in which Safdar was arrested as "shameful", Bilawal said he could not condemn it enough.

"I am ashamed [and] unable to show my face over what has taken place in my province," he added.

He said there was a furore over the political slogans raised by Safdar at the Quaid's mausoleum, but asked why no action was taken when PTI workers "did similar sloganeering" during Imran Khan's visit to the tomb and when "banned outfits" raised their own slogans there.

"Harassing them (Maryam and Safdar) early in the morning and arresting Safdar is an insult to the people of Sindh who had invited Maryam sahiba and the N-league delegation to attend the PDM jalsa," the PPP leader said.

The PPP chief said the purpose of his press conference was to express solidarity with the Sindh police to increase their morale. “We can carry out an investigation as well but it will be more appropriate if the army chief and the ISI chief also take action,” he added.

Bilawal said harassing and detaining the Sindh police chief in the wee hours of Monday was a “shameful” act and it demoralized the entire police force. "Who were the people who surrounded the Sindh IGP’s house at 4 in the morning?” he asked.

After his press conference, the army chief telephoned him to discuss “the Karachi incident”.

“The chairman PPP expressed his appreciation to the COAS for taking prompt notice of the Karachi incident and his assurance of conducting a transparent inquiry on the incident,” said a statement issued by the Bilawal House Media Cell.

After a few hours of controversy, Captain Safdar was presented in a court where a judicial magistrate had granted him bail against a surety bond of Rs100,000.  Maryam and Safdar, who were staying with 70 people from their party and social media team at the hotel, had left for Lahore on Monday evening.