Army chief delivers on promise: Officers involved in IGP's 'abduction' removed

RAWALPINDI: A court of inquiry, formed on the orders of Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, has recommended removal of two Pakistan Rangers and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officials involved in the Karachi incident for creating "an unwarranted situation that led to misunderstanding between two state institutions".

The inquiry had been ordered by the army chief after the Sindh Police chief was allegedly kidnapped and later he and several senior officers of the provincial police force had sought extended leaves from duty, saying they had been left demoralised due to the circumstances surrounding the arrest of PML-N leader Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar on Oct 19.

The statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Tuesday notified that the inquiry "pertaining to the issue of redress of Inspector General of Police Sindh's grievances" had been completed and that it had recommended the removal of all security agencies’ officers found involved in the events of October 18 and 19, 2020.

"The court of inquiry has established that on the night of October 18/19, officers from Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) and the ISI Sector Headquarters Karachi were considerably seized with the fallout of the desecration of Mazar-e-Quaid," the statement read.

"They [the security officers] 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 ISI/Rangers officers decided to act, rather over-zealously," the statement added.

"They were indeed experienced enough to have acted more prudently and could have avoided creating an unwarranted situation that led to misunderstanding between the two state institutions," it said.

The ISPR statement said that "it has been decided to remove the officers concerned from their current assignments for further departmental proceedings and disposal at [the Army's] General Headquarters (GHQ)." The leadership of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), had expressed concerns over delay in completion of inquiry report a couple of days back.