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EDITORIAL: The news spread like the proverbial wildfire as soon as the military’s media wing, the ISPR, announced that “the process of Field General Court Martial has been initiated and Lt-Gen Faiz Hameed (retd), has been taken into military custody.”

The statement went on to explain that in compliance with the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, a detailed court of inquiry was undertaken by Pakistan Army to ascertain correctness of complaints in the Top City case made against the retired general. Consequently, appropriate disciplinary action has commenced against him under provisions of the Pakistan Army Act. It furthermore claimed that multiple instances of violations of the Pakistan Army Act post-retirement have also been established.

The announcement evoked as much interest as it did because this is the first time ever that a former director general of the country’s premier intelligence agency, the ISI, faces court martial proceedings for alleged misuse of authority in civilian domain, involving a private housing development scheme in Islamabad. He along with his brother is accused of attempting to take possession of the housing project by arresting and blackmailing its purported owner, Moeez Khan. No less significant fact about him is that he is widely seen as a politically controversial figure, loathed and liked in equal measure by politicians across the political divide.

The PML-N supremo and former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, had accused him along with some apex court judges of his ouster from office in 2017. His successor, PTI’s founding chairman Imran Khan, is known to have wanted to retain him as the spy agency chief, citing the situation in Afghanistan.

Reports also suggest that Khan’s efforts to promote the now defamed general created friction between him and the then Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, and eventually led to Khan’s own ouster from power.

Not surprising, hence, the ruling party PML-N’s Senator Irfan Siddiqui while greeting the announcement of his arrest said “when investigation will go forward, his (the retired general’s) political meddling will also be proved” — as a matter of fact, through the years military has directly or indirectly played an active role in this country’s political affairs.

The PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, on the other hand, has carefully and prudently remarked that the Army is a disciplined and organised institution with its own procedures for dealing with both retired and serving officers.

Political posits aside, it is worth noting that the present case goes back to May 2017, when the complainant approached the Supreme Court over a raid, he said, was conducted by Pakistan Rangers and ISI personnel on his property and residence during which valuables, including gold and diamond ornaments, along with money were taken away on the pretext of a terrorism investigation allegedly orchestrated by Faiz Hameed.

And that later on, two retired ISI brigadiers coerced him into paying a substantial amount of cash and sponsoring a private TV network. It is hard to believe that a private citizen could level such serious accusations against a serving chief of the powerful military intelligence agency.

In any event, six years later the apex court directed the complainant to seek redress of his grievances through the relevant channel, that of the defence ministry, for initiating action against the ex-spy chief. Now that the case has landed where it should, the tendency to give it a political hue needs to be avoided.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024

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