Ahsan Iqbal reveals what Gen Faiz Hameed wanted in Faizabad sit-in deal

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader and former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal has disclosed that former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen. (retired) Faiz Hameed had expressed a strong desire to be included as a signatory in the agreement reached during the Faizabad sit-in in 2017 with the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).

Speaking on Monday on the Geo News programme ‘Capital Talk’ hosted by Hamid Mir, Iqbal expressed that neither he nor the then Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi supported the idea of a high-ranking military official becoming a signatory to that agreement.

However, the former interior minister said Gen. Faiz maintained that the protesting TLP would only agree to the accord if he was the guarantor.

“When I read out the contents of the agreement to the prime minister, he also suggested that it would be better that General Sahib didn’t sign it,” said Ahsan Iqbal.

He also stated that “I also conveyed to General Sahib that it wouldn’t be good for him and his institution to sign the agreement given its political nature.”