3 retired employees in military custody against former ISI chief: ISPR

Three ex-armed forces personnel have been arrested in connection to a court martial case linked to former spy ISI chief General Faiz Hameed for allegedly targeting the owner of a private housing society said ISPR in a media notification on Thursday.

In the statement, it was stated that three retired officers were in the military(ISI and ISPR)custody for actions that amounted to actions prejudicial to military discipline.

“The other three are also in military custody in connection with the FGCM proceedings of Lt Gen (Retd) Faiz Hameed for actions amounting to prejudicial to military discipline,” the military’s media affairs said.

“The investigations of some other retired officers and their associates with some known political interest for conspiracies towards socio-political instabilities in the country are still continuing. “

For the first time in the country’s history, the army on Monday revealed the name of the detainee as Gen Hameed, the former ISI chief on charges of violating the Army Act. A source had it that Gen Hameed was arrested from Rawalpindi when he proceeded to attend a meeting called by senior military personnel.

The dismissal, reported to have been occasioned by allegations of misconduct by the spy agency raised by the owner of a private housing society, broke the/www./send urban myth that spy chiefs were immune in the country, where generals / have un-rivaled influence.

The army said that it had acted based on a Supreme Court of Pak­i­s­tan order on Nove­m­ber 15, 2023 by Ka­n­­war Moeez Khan, the owner of the Top City housing society in Islamabad, in which the court directed him to file his com­plaints against Gen Hameed with the Min­is­try of Defence and other authorities.

‘Very unusual event’

Former interior minister, Rana Sanullah talking to ‘Geo News’ said it was a very unusual event and I do not believe any similar event has been witnessed before at this level.

He said the government knew that an inquiry was underway against the former spy chief and his name had surfaced in connection with other matters too which, Sanaullah said could have been the reason for today’s situation as well.

“This was seen to give people very little hope or the thought that something would be done at this level”, he noted while noting that the move would afford the military the reputation and confidence in having an accountability system “regardless of the rank”.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said while speaking during Geo News show ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’: “Gen Faiz has indeed indirectly been involved in the events on the political scene since his retirement.From what I know of him, he could not stay aloof and had to meddle into the affairs.”

He further said: As most people would agree, it is mind – boggling that for a person who exercised immense, and unlimited power to take a back seat causes ulcers to him or her.

Asif again stressed that Gen Hameed ‘was directly more involved’ in events as the COAS after his retirement. He also said about the former spymaster that ‘he could have had a role in what happened on May 9,’ meaning the riots that occurred across the country last year in connection with the arrest of the founder of PTI.

“It is in fact very difficult to speak about it but events do try to incriminate him.”

The case against Gen Hameed

he military had apparently set up an inquiry committee in April to look into charges of misuse of authority against the former chief of Pakistan’s premier spy agency, the ISI.

Newspapers had reported that the committee had been set up by the military top brass in a bid aimed at self-policing and it will be led by a major general.

They said the committee was formed in light of the directives of the Supreme Court and Ministry of Defence.

It had stated in a written order on November 14 that allegations of an “extremely serious nature” against ex-spymaster retired Lt-Gen Faiz Hameed “cannot be left unattended” as such allegations would besmirch the image of institutions of the country if found factually correct.

The written order had said: “The allegations if true are heinous, and are sure to tarnish the image of the federal government, armed forces, ISI, and Pakistan rangers, therefore they cannot be overlooked.”

The owner of Top City, the private housing scheme, had accused the former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of staging a raid on the offices and the house of its owner Moeez Khan and the management of Top City had leveled serious charges of harboring and supporting terror outfits against him.

In November 2023, the Supreme Court told the housing society owner to reach out to relevant groups, including the defense ministry, to address his complaints against the former intelligence chief and his associates.

The newly formed investigation team will write up its findings and give them to the appropriate officials, according to reports.

In March 2023, Rana Sanaullah, who was the interior minister at the time, said they were looking into claims that the ex-ISI head and his sibling had engaged in corruption and gotten rich beyond their means.
In March 2024, a court in Rawalpindi sent Najaf Hameed, a retired naib tehsildar and brother of the former spymaster, to Adiala jail for a 14-day judicial remand. Najaf and his other partners in crime applied for pre-arrest bail by filing the FIR lodged with ACE, Rawalpindi.The FIR claimed that Hafiz Ammar Yasir, who used to be the minister for mineral resources got properties worth billions of rupees using benamidars.

Retirement and controversial past

General Hameed had chosen to take early retirement and sent his resignation to the high command in November 2022, say highly knowledgeable sources. He was appointed ISI chief in June 2019.

He was the stormy eye in an alleged standoff between the military and the PTI government over the appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as the new chief of ISI in the last quarter of 2021.

The army had announced on October 6, 2021, that Gen Hameed was appointed as the Peshawar corps commander and Lt Gen Anjum was appointed in his stead.The intensity of this speculation was felt through the stunning lack of any official notification coming through the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) of the posting of Lt Gen Anjum even three weeks after his appointment was declared by the army.

It was after delays that, finally, on October 26, 2021, the PMO had issued a notification regarding the appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as the new ISI chief. Imran later stated that he had never wanted “to bring his own army chief” and that he had “never meddled” in the affairs of the Pakistan Army.

Severe General Hameed was one of the six seniormost generals, whose name was submitted by General Headquarters to a list of probable candidates for the two top military offices in the country and dispatched to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for approval in November 2022.

Gen Hameed had served as Corps Commander in Peshawar before being appointed as commander of Bahawalpur corps.

The former spymaster has brought plenty of controversy into the country’s political life over the past several years.
Gen Hameed first surfaced to public prominence when he negotiated a deal to end the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan’s Faizabad dharna in November 2017.

The Supreme Court said, in a suo motu notice of the incident month of February 2019, that ISI, Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence, and the Inter-Services Public Relations “shall not interfere in or pry into the affairs of media houses – including divulging details of alleged media campaigns against any individual or organization,” and “operate within their respective mandates.”
He also faces scathing criticism from the supreme leader of PML-N Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz, his daughter, for playing his crucial role in their convictions and for backing the former set-up under PTI.

Former senior judge of the Islamabad High Court, Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, made serious charges against officials of a security agency, stating they were manipulating court procedures. He also declared the agencies requested the IHC chief justice to ensure Nawaz and Maryam continued to be imprisoned during the elections. The judge was later dismissed.

Still, it was in December 2023 when he had proven some former judges and four retired army captains as parties in the case against his ouster before the court in question.

Earlier, on Friday, senior counsel Hamid Khan, on behalf of the ex-judge, had moved an amended application before the apex court seeking to array former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and Gen Hameed as respondents in his petition, along with three retired brigadiers — Irfan Ramay, Faisal Marwat and Tahir Wafai, a former chief justice of the IHC, Anwar Khan Kasi, and a former registrar of the Supreme Court, Arbab Muhammad Arif.

In his reply to the petition to keep Nawaz and Maryam in prison, Gen Hameed vehemently denied the charges of having fixed the benches of the IHC and mentioned that the judge unnecessarily dragged him in the case.

Not only that but in February 2023, the then human rights minister Riaz Pirzada stated that Gen Hameed was in favor of bringing the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) back to the country.

In May 2023, the former federal minister Faisal Vawda accused General Hameed of being the “brains and the best-groomed, and biggest gainer” in the Al-Qadir Trust event. stood.]

The case claims that the former prime minister and his wife received billions of rupees and hundreds of canals of land from Bahria Town Ltd in exchange for legalizing Rs50 One billion, which was later identified by the UK government and returned to the country during the PTI government.

Petition

The petition states that the Pakistan Rangers along with ISI officials had raided the office of Top City and the house of Moeez on May 12, 2017. They took away valuables including gold and diamond ornaments and money.

Inter alia, the petition said, that Sardar Najaf, the brother of Gen Hameed mediated between the parties and tried a reconciliation. On being acquitted, alleged the petitioner, Gen Hameed established contact with Moeez through a cousin of the latter who is a brigadier in the army.

“It is averred in the petition that during the meeting, Gen Hameed told petitioner that he would return some of the items taken away during the raid except for 400 tola gold and the cash”.

It said that retired brigadier Naeem Fakhar and retired brigadier Ghaffar of the ISI allegedly “forced” the petitioner to “pay 4 crores in cash” and “sponsor a private AAP TV network for a few months”.

As the petition reads, former ISI operatives Irtaza Haroon, Sardar Najaf, Wasim Tabish, Zahid Mehmood Malik, and Mohammad Munir are also “involved in the illegal takeover of the housing society”.