Former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif was summoned by the Faizabad sit-in commission on Monday, January 3, to record his statement in the case. This occurred in Islamabad.
Since he served as chief minister of Punjab during the sit-in, sources said that the head of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has been summoned.
The federal government appointed a three-person commission in November 2017 to investigate the 2017 sit-in in Islamabad’s Faizabad district to determine its organizers, financiers, and backers.
Along with that, the commission would suggest suing those responsible for the demonstration that shook up Rawalpindi and Islamabad from November 6–27, 2017.
A demonstration
Sitting in protest of the parliamentarians’ oath’s revisions, the TLP—then headed by Allama Khadim Hussain Rizvi—reaffirmed their faith in the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as the final messenger of God.
An operation to disperse the religious protestors’ 21-day sit-in at Islamabad’s Faizabad Interchange backfired, leading to nationwide violent riots and ultimately forcing the government to concede to Tehreek-e-Labbaik’s demands.
Zahid Hamid, the law minister of the then-PML-N government, was removed from office due to the protest. On November 21, 2017, the sit-in was noticed by the Supreme Court (SC) without prior notice.
Prior events with the Faizabad Dharna scam
Justice Qazi Faez Isa presided over a division bench that, on February 6, 2019, revealed its decision in the sit-in case, in which it criticized the involvement of intelligence agencies. Justice Isa was scheduled to hear the petitions filed against the Supreme Court’s February 2019 ruling shortly after becoming chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) in September of this year.
It was ordered by the court that the intelligence agencies should not go beyond what is required by the constitution.
Worth noting is that in April 2019, an intelligence agency argued that the Supreme Court’s decision in the Faizabad sit-in case would hurt military morale, thus it contested the verdict.
Additionally, on December 30, the investigation panel summoned Lt. Gen. (ret.) Faiz Hameed, who served as the director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), for a second occasion to tape his statement this week.
