ISI, Rangers involved in Sindh IGP ‘abduction’, PML-N leader’s overzealous arrest: Pak Army

The Pakistan Army on Tuesday said that it has found officials of secret intel agency, ISI, and Rangers guilty of the “abduction” of Sindh IGP Mushtaq Mehr and the “overzealous” arrest of Capt. (retired) Mohammad Safdar Awan in a desecration case, adding that they have been removed from their posts.

In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) — the military media affairs wing — said that the court of inquiry, constituted to redress the grievances of the Sindh inspector general on the orders of Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, has been completed.

“Based on the recommendations of the court of inquiry, it has been decided to remove the concerned officers from their current assignments for further departmental proceedings and disposal at GHQ,” the statement said.

“The court of inquiry has established that on the night of October 18/Oct 19, officers from Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) and ISI sector Headquarters, Karachi, were considerably seized with the fall out of the desecration of Mazar-e-Quaid. They were under increasing public pressure to ensure prompt action as per the law. Assessing the response of police authorities against this developing yet volatile situation to be slow and wanting, in a charged environment, the concerned officers decided to act, rather overzealously,” the ISPR further said.

In October, the ISPR said the Army chief had taken notice of and ordered an immediate inquiry into the “Karachi incident”, minutes after PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari called on General Bajwa and ISI Director General Faiz Hameed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Awam, husband of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz, from his hotel room on October 19.

Almost all police officers in Sindh applied for leave in protest against the humiliation meted out to IGP Mehr.

PML-N spokesman Muhammad Zubair, who is also a former Sindh governor, said that the IGP Sindh was “kidnapped” by the Rangers who forced him to file an FIR for Safdar’s arrest.

“They were indeed experienced enough to have acted more prudently and could have avoided creating an unwarranted situation that led to the misunderstanding between the two state institutions,” the ISPR’s statement read.