Unprecedented

From the violation of sanctity of Quaid’s mausoleum to the PDM rally, an unprecedented chain of events

Never ever was the sanctity of Quaid’s mausoleum violated allegedly so crassly as it was done on October 18. Next, never ever could the PPP hold such a huge public meeting in Karachi as it did on the same day late in the evening under the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) banner. Both events were unprecedented.

The forcible entry of security agencies into the hotel room of Maryam Sharif and her husband violating their privacy, early Monday morning, to arrest Safdar Awan, ostensibly for leading what is being described as ‘hooliganism’ at Quaid’s mausoleum the day before, was also an unprecedented incident in its own way.

The FIR registered against Safdar on the complaint of one Waqas Ahmed Khan, also accused him of threatening to kill the complainant.

Mid-morning the same day, another unprecedented event occurred: an audio clip emerged on Twitter in which PML-N leader Mohammad Zubair purportedly said that Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah told him IGP Mushtaq Ahmad Mahar was kidnapped and forced to register an FIR against Maryam, Safdar and 200 others.

This was followed by mid-day by one more unprecedented event: never before in the administrative history of Pakistan almost the entire police force of a province led by their Inspector General had tendered leave applications protesting against “the resentment and heartache caused to all the ranks of the force because of kidnapping of the IGP and his humiliation at the hands of official agencies,” wielding superior gun-power.

Meanwhile, Safdar was produced before the Judicial Magistrate East, who after hearing the arguments of the two sides approved Safdar's bail and a surety bond of Rs100,000. The murder threat complaint was dismissed for want of evidence.

Late in the evening, addressing a press conference, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari approached the issue in an unprecedented way as he demanded of the COAS General Bajwa and ISI Chief Faiz Hameed “to investigate your institution [and] how it is operating in this province”.  

He said he wanted to know the identities of "the two people who went inside the IG's house”, and where they allegedly took the police chief at around 4AM. He said the advice to carry out Safdar's arrest in that manner was "wrong" and could damage the armed forces' "institutional integrity". He added the provincial government would also carry out its own inquiry.

Minutes after Bilawal’s press conference, the ISPR Chief said that COAS Gen Bajwa has directed the Karachi Corps Commander to "immediately inquire into the circumstances to determine the facts and report back as soon as possible”. This, indeed, was an unprecedented development.

In a tweet from its official account, the PPP said Gen Bajwa also called Bilawal "over the telephone to discuss the Karachi incident this evening”, which again can be classed as an unprecedented happening. "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," it added.

As two inquiries are being conducted, one at the army level another at the civilian level, it would not be right to speculate at this stage about who did what and at whose instigation. Even the Sindh Police force led by its IGP has deferred its leave request by 10 days pending the inquiries.

But what appears to be more than unprecedented is the extraordinary rush the unidentified parties displayed in forcing the police to arrest Safdar before dawn, the next day. And in their unabashed haste to arrest Safdar, they even forgot to find out the antecedents of the complainant who turned out to be an absconding felon himself. And according to his cellphone record he was miles away from Quaid’s mausoleum when Safdar was allegedly violating its sanctity. So, even his allegation that Safdar had threatened to kill him appeared grossly false. 

One hopes the inquiries, especially the one being conducted by the Karachi Corps Commander, would be completed before the PDM’s Quetta public meeting which is scheduled on October 25. Otherwise, the PDM’s narrative is likely to turn even more strident against the establishment leading to more unpalatable controversies.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2020.

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