Officers involved in 'Karachi incident' to be removed: ISPR

The Court of Inquiry formed on the orders of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has recommended the removal of Pakistan Rangers and Inter-Services Intelligence (IS) officials involved in the 'Karachi incident' for creating "an unwarranted situation that led to misunderstanding between two state institutions".

A statement issued by Inter-Services Public Relations notified that an inquiry "pertaining to the issue of redress of Inspector General of Police Sindh's grievances" has 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 concerned officers from their current assignments for further departmental proceedings and disposal at [the Army's] General Headquarters (GHQ)."