"I have no evidence," Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's reaction to Faizabad sit-in inquiry commission report
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 I just saw that some part of the commission's report has been published.
00:06 You all said that there are no agencies behind this, there is no establishment behind this,
00:14 there is no DGC, General Faiz.
00:16 Whereas in the last 6-7 years, these statements were made that they were behind all this.
00:23 I was listening to your interview and you said that if a Truth Commission is made, I will tell everything.
00:30 Why didn't you tell us what happened in that protest and who was behind it?
00:34 Look, the commission that was made, I told them two things.
00:40 First of all, I said that whatever happened there is my responsibility.
00:43 Whether the government took action or not, that is my responsibility. I was the Prime Minister.
00:47 Secondly, if you have written questions, I will answer them.
00:54 They asked written questions. I don't remember, I will see the questions and if the commission allows me, I will make them public.
01:01 I don't remember if they asked questions about whether General Faiz was involved or not,
01:06 or whether he was behind this or not.
01:09 I don't have any evidence of this.
01:12 I can only answer the questions that I was asked.
01:16 So, this question about whether General Faiz was involved or not...
01:20 But what was asked in that question?
01:22 How hot was it? Was it raining? What were the questions like that?
01:26 Yes, yes, yes, these were the questions.
01:29 Believe me, I can say with confidence that the questions that were asked had nothing to do with the Faizabad protest.
01:43 So, you asked whether the clothes he was wearing, whether the helicopter was good or not.
01:49 Did you ask anything like this?
01:51 I mean, those questions had no relevance to this protest.
01:54 So, the questions that were asked were answered by him.
01:57 He has taken the result that whether General Faiz was involved or not,
02:02 whether there were any institutions involved or not,
02:05 this is the decision of the commission.
02:11 This is their analysis.
02:13 Now, if you ask me...
02:17 He has used the line that when you were asked this,
02:21 you answered that there is no role of any of these agencies.
02:26 Yes, I will tell you this, I don't have any evidence.
02:31 When you sit in the commission, what support do you not give?
02:35 It is a legal forum.
02:37 You talk about what you have evidence of.
02:40 I don't have any evidence that it was done by the institutions,
02:44 or General Bajwa or General Faiz.
02:46 That is why I say that you should make a truth commission.
02:48 All these things will be brought to the people.
02:50 Those who have knowledge will talk about it.
02:52 I will also talk about myself.
02:54 Sir, but what is it that you can do in a truth commission that you cannot do in front of this commission?
03:00 Look, you can ask questions according to that.
03:03 I am saying that I don't have any evidence that any institution has done it.
03:08 I know only the facts that are there.
03:11 Let me ask you a straight question.
03:13 If you were asked a question from this commission,
03:16 what would be your answer?
03:18 What was it?
03:20 If you were asked a straight question,
03:23 who had organised this protest, what would be your answer?
03:27 Look, if you answer with a false statement, I will make a false statement.
03:31 If you ask the person who was the Prime Minister at that time,
03:34 he has no evidence.
03:36 I had no report or knowledge that I could say that a particular person was involved or an institution was involved.
03:43 So, this means that the people who are rejecting, Khwaja Asif Sahib said that the government should be rejected.
03:51 Rana Sinhaullah Sahib also said that they don't want to know the truth.
03:55 This means that no one knows the truth.
03:57 You didn't tell the truth.
04:00 You said that I think that the Prime Minister says this with circumstantial evidence.
04:04 And I think that this was behind it.
04:07 I had no evidence for this.
04:09 You could have said it.
04:11 Sir, I cannot speak on the basis of circumstantial evidence.
04:14 There is a commission and they are asking a direct question.
04:17 I will answer those questions.
04:19 After that, if the commission called me and said that you have more knowledge,
04:23 I would have told them what is the truth and what is not.
04:26 But I understand that the person who is responsible for the legal proceedings,
04:30 what should he not be doing?
04:33 He gets angry about everything.
04:36 There are many incidents in the world that do not have direct evidence.
04:40 But on the basis of circumstances and circumstantial evidence,
04:44 it is decided whether this was behind it or not.
04:46 You are saying that whatever has happened in this country in the past 70 years,
04:50 there is no evidence for it.
04:53 Yes, that is why you have prosecuted someone for something.
04:56 But the first time you got the opportunity to say that the Supreme Court said
05:02 that the commission should be made,
05:04 even in that, when you hide behind technicalities and do not answer,
05:09 then people will forget this too.
05:13 I am not talking about technicalities.
05:16 There is a forum, a judicial forum, a legal forum.
05:19 I speak there openly.
05:23 I cannot support anything there.
05:25 You cannot support anything there either.
05:27 If we talk about what happened here or not,
05:32 today, you can ask the Prime Minister, Kakar, whether there was a protest in the elections or not.
05:36 He was the Prime Minister at that time.
05:37 What will he say?
05:38 If you ask me, I will say that the government that has been formed today,
05:42 is not the representative government of the Imam.
05:44 I can say this.
05:46 But can a person who was the Prime Minister say this?
05:49 That is why I did not get any evidence,
05:52 no report came in which it was written that a certain person had protested.
05:56 Or that a certain institution had protested.
05:58 If you want to collect circumstantial evidence,
06:01 then the commission would have called all the institutions,
06:03 would have called all the people who were present there,
06:06 the police, the Christians, the protesters, other people.
06:11 This hearing would have been held for several months.
06:16 I was called once.
06:18 I said, "You ask a written question, I will answer it."
06:21 I answered it, after that I did not get any contact.
06:23 Even today, you can call me and ask me any question you want.
06:28 I will put the truth in front of them according to the knowledge I have.
06:34 You can ask this question in the public domain, I have no problem with that.
06:38 But you are saying that you have no knowledge.
06:42 You say that you have no knowledge.
06:44 I have no evidence.
06:46 I did not get any such report.
06:48 You can call reports from the IB, from the ISI,
06:51 that who had protested.
06:53 I know, I have this fact,
06:56 that the Punjab government did not put any obstacle to that protest.
07:00 And that protest came very easily and sat on the Faisalabad bridge.
07:04 The Punjab government did not help in controlling that protest.
07:09 Not a single soldier came.
07:11 Chaudhary Nisar sir was attacked at home, tried to burn him.
07:14 No Punjab police, which was in thousands,
07:17 came to him.
07:20 Not a single person came.
07:22 I can tell you this fact.
07:24 But you can ask me, was a particular person involved or not.
07:27 I do not want to make any assumptions.