Shibli urges Sindh govt to probe police officials for staging ‘sort of mutiny’

Info minister says provincial govt should now submit its own inquiry report on ‘Karachi incident’ at the earliest

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz has said that “we appreciate the decision of the Pakistan Army over the ‘Karachi incident’.

“Now, the Sindh government has to submit its inquiry report... they should also take action against [police] officers who refused to perform their duties,” Shibli said while referring to the inquiry report of the Karachi fiasco made public by the military on Tuesday.

He said Pakistan Army under its “self-accountability system” removed its two officers who were found guilty of the incident.

The senator while addressing a press conference in Islamabad further said, the Sindh Rangers had approached the Sindh police chief over the matter of desecrating mausoleum of the Founder of the Nation “because everyone was enraged and they were under pressure”.

“The security officials acted emotionally over the issue of violating the sanctity of Quaid’s mausoleum. But the [Army] has given its decision and we welcome it.”

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting @shiblifaraz holding a Press Conference at #PID. https://t.co/vokDsIpFZ1

— Govt of Pakistan (@GovtofPakistan) November 10, 2020

 

The ‘Karachi incident’ involves the events that led to registration of a first information report (FIR) against PML-N’s Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar and his subsequent arrest under alleged duress during a visit to the Sindh’s provincial capital last month.

"The Court of Inquiry has established that on night 18 / 19 Oct officers from Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) and ISI sector Headquarters Karachi were considerably seized with the fall out of desecration of Mazar-e-Quaid. They were under increasing public pressure to ensure prompt action as per the law," the military’s media wing, the ISPR, said while making the report public earlier in the day.

The opposition politicians last week had expressed serious concerns over the delay in investigation of Captain Safdar’s arrest under duress from his hotel room in Karachi.

“Despite the assurance of army chief that investigation would be completed in 10 days no headway has been made after passing of three weeks,” JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had said while addressing a news conference in Islamabad.