Pakistan abuzz with rumours of 'civil war’ after reports of Army kidnapping Sindh police chief

Amid thetense situation in Pakistan for escaping the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, Pakistan's army chief has ordered an investigation into allegations that Sindh police chief was kidnapped by army troops.

According to the reports, the police officers in Karachi have threatened to go on mass leave after the Sindh Police chief was allegedly kidnapped and coerced to act against PML (N) Vice President Marayam Nawaz Sharif.

Sources in Islamabad said that Pakistan is rapidly slipping into a civil war-like situation with the ongoing tussle between the opposition parties, police and the Army.

The Sindh Police on Monday had arrested Safdar Awan, the husband of Maryam Nawaz Sharif, and the son-in-law of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, from a hotel in Karachi.

The arrest came just hours after the PML(N) Vice President criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government at a massive rally of People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) — an alliance of 11 opposition political parties which have joined hands to challenge the Imran Khan government backed by the Pakistan Army. He was later released on bail.

Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has ordered an inquiry into Safdar Awan’s arrest after Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari questioned the Army and the ISI about the incident in a tweet.

Pakistani media quoted Bilawal alleging that the Sindh Police chief was abducted by Pakistan Army and its intelligence wing for a few hours before Safdar Awan was arrested. Bilawal insinuated that Pakistan military had pressurised the Sindh Police to act against Safdar Awan.

The Dawn newspaper reported that a purported voice message by PML(N) leader and former Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair was shared by a journalist in which Zubair alleged that the Sindh Inspector General of Police, Mushtaq Mahar, was kidnapped and forced to register an FIR against Maryam, her husband Safdar and 200 others for violating the sanctity of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s mausoleum.

Meanwhile, three people died and around 15 got injured after an explosion hit a four-storey building in Pakistan's Karachi on Wednesday (October 21). It is learnt that the massive blast occurred at a building opposite the Karachi University Maskan gate in Gulshan-e-Iqbal.

(With inputs from agencies)