Court of Inquiry suspends ISI, Rangers officials involved in Sindh IG incident

RAWALPINDI: The Court of Inquiry on the orders of Chief of Army Staff (COAS)  General Qamar Javed Bajwa pertaining to the issue of redress of Inspector General (IG) Police Sindh’s grievances, in the backdrop of 18 Oct 2020 Karachi incident, has been completed. Relevant officers have been removed from their posts regarding IG Sindh’s concerns.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Army’s Court of Inquiry into the IG Sindh incident has been completed on the orders of the Army Chief. The Court of Inquiry has established that on night 18th/19th October 2020, 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 ISPR said that the officers concerned have been removed from their posts on the recommendations of the Court of Inquiry.

According to the ISPR, action will be taken against the officers in General Headquarters (GHQ) for violating the code. Assessing the response of police authorities against this developing yet volatile situation to be slow and wanting, in a charged environment, the concerned Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI/Rangers officers decided to act, rather over zealously.

The ISPR said that the officers reacted emotionally, the officers should have shown restraint and responsibility. 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.

According to ISPR, further inquiries will be made in the concerned departments. 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.

It may be recalled that Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Captain (retd) Safdar was arrested from a private hotel in Karachi on October 19 in connection with chanting slogans at Mazar-e-Quaid and IG Sindh was pressured to arrest him.

After the incident, all the top officials of the province, including IG Sindh, had decided to go on leave in protest, while Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had also expressed reservations in this regard and appealed to the Army Chief to take notice.

Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had telephoned Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on the Karachi incident and assured an investigation.

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