Former ISI chief’s arrest by the military a likely warning to ex-PM Imran Khan’s allies
Reports said Hameed had continued to provide advice and counsel to Khan after taking premature retirement from the army
Most Indians will remember Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, the former chief of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), as the man standing in the lobby of a Kabul hotel after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, sipping tea and remarking, “Don’t worry, everything will be okay.”
On Monday, Hameed faced the ignominy of being the first serving or retired chief of the powerful spy agency to be arrested in order to face a field general court martial on charges of corruption and violating the Pakistan Army Act after his retirement in 2022.
There was a time when Hameed was seen as the real force behind the civilian government led by former prime minister Imran Khan, even as he nursed ambitions of becoming the chief of the Pakistan Army. Hameed was handpicked by Khan as director general of the ISI in 2019, about a year after the formation of Khan’s government, and headed the intelligence agency until November 2021.
During Hameed’s period at the helm of the ISI, Pakistan’s political circles were abuzz with gossip about the general’s proximity to the mercurial Khan, who pushed repeatedly to ensure that Hameed rose to the post of army chief after the term of Gen Qamar Bajwa.
Khan’s repeated meddling in the army’s promotion mechanism to push Hameed’s case was one of the main reasons for the falling out between Khan and the military, which paved the way for his ouster in a confidence vote in Parliament in April 2022.
The brief statement from the Pakistan Army’s media arm announcing the action against Hameed stated that an inquiry conducted on the orders of the Supreme Court had resulted in “appropriate disciplinary action” against Hameed under the provisions of Pakistan Army Act for his alleged role in attempting to take over the Top City housing development project in Islamabad by arresting and harassing its owner.
More significantly, the statement said that the inquiry had established “multiple instances of violation of Pakistan Army Act” by Hameed after his retirement. “The process of Field General Court Martial has been initiated and Lt Gen Faiz Hameed (Retd) has been taken into military custody,” it said without giving details.
People in the know said this was an apparent reference to Hameed’s role in widespread rioting by members of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party across the country on May 9, 2023. The powerful military was especially angered when PTI workers stormed and torched the official residence of the IV Corps commander in Lahore and attempted to barge into the army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.
There were also reports that Hameed had continued to provide advice and counsel to Khan after taking premature retirement from the army, and suggestions that he had played a role in the May 9 riots, which was perceived in some quarters as an uprising against the military.
Former premier Nawaz Sharif has publicly accused Hameed of working with other generals and members of the superior judiciary to remove him from power in 2017.
Baqir Sajjad Syed, the national security correspondent of the influential Dawn newspaper, indicated the action against Hameed is part of the military’s signalling to the allies of Khan, who is currently in prison but continues to spearhead the PTI’s opposition to the current establishment.
“The arrest of former ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed sends a clear signal to those still on the fence – there will be no compromise, no exceptions. Fall in line or face the consequences. The writing is on the wall,” Sajjad said.
There are indications that the Pakistan Army, under its current chief, Gen Asim Munir, is cracking the whip on a section of serving and retired officials who sympathise with or overtly back Khan and his party. While in power, Khan would repeatedly say that the PTI and the military were on the “same page” of all important issues.
Khan’s cosying up to the army also suited some officials, who believed the military should continue to play a decisive role in Pakistan’s politics. Though the army has ruled Pakistan for almost half of its history, since the end of the term of former dictator Pervez Musharraf, the generals have sought to shape the country’s politics while remaining in the background. Pakistan’s generals have faced countless allegations of corruption, meddling in politics and links with jihadi groups but have usually never been held accountable.
Mehmal Sarfraz, a Lahore-based journalist and commentator, however, said it was significant that the army had decided to act against Hameed for both his activities while in service and after he retired.
“This is quite unprecedented as the military is making one of its own accountable. The demand for across-the-board accountability has been there for long and this seems like the first step in that direction,” Sarfraz said.