It was public knowledge for some months now that the former Director-General of the ISI, Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed would be tried by the military for his alleged role in the May 9 violence and attacks.
However, it wasn’t until December 10 that details of what exactly the military had charged him with became clear. A press release issued by ISPR gave the details: General Faiz was being tried under provisions of the Pakistan Army Act and had been formally arraigned before the Field General Court Martial (FGCM).
He has been charged with violating the Official Secrets Act “detrimental to the security and interest of the state”, for the “misuse of authority and government resources and causing wrongful loss to a person(s). Another charge is of engaging in political activities, and it is an open secret that the allusion here is to the PTI whose founder Imran Khan, he was considered very close to. The press release also said that the FGCM process had begun on August 12 of this year.
By the time the PTI government of Imran Khan lost the vote of no-confidence in the National Assembly in 2022, it had become quite clear that it was receiving assistance from elements in the establishment, and that Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, who was serving then, was at the forefront of such assistance. In the following months, all kinds of allegations surfaced in the media, especially on social media, even to the extent that while Imran Khan was jailed, the former ISI chief was running the party and directing efforts to ensure that it still received favourable treatment from various institutions of the state. With that in mind, the charges mentioned in the ISPR press release tally with these allegations, since they relate to the allegation of engaging in political activities and of misusing authority and government resources.
The decision to charge the former ISI chief in this matter is welcome and reflects a clear willingness among the military to hold accountable its officers for their acts of commission and omission, regardless of how high their rank might have been. Surely, this is something that anyone who wants to seek accountability and proclaims to fight corruption would agree with.
Hopefully, the process of accountability will be carried forward in all state institutions, not least so that ordinary Pakistanis start believing that the full force of the law doesn’t apply only to them.
The charges also bring to attention the fact that many political parties in the country, much to their detriment and that of their constituents, have more often than not actively sought to work with the establishment, or at the very least have been willing partners, to gain political power and that this achievement of political power has been at the cost of other political parties.
While most political parties in Pakistan have been guilty of this, the PTI has been the worst offender. That it was propped up and helped and provided for by elements in the establishment is now an open secret (and in fact may well be connected to one of the charges that General Faiz is being tried for), and it did this to gain power and then used that position of power to stamp out any and all dissent – both in the political realm as in parliament as well as in the media.
Now that its founder and leaders cry hoarse over the theft of the people’s mandate and claim to struggle for democracy in Pakistan, it should be remembered that former Prime Minister Imran Khan has repeatedly refused to sit down and talk to any other political party for reconciliation and has always said that he will talk only to the establishment. If it truly was fighting for democracy, the PTI would work to seek common ground with other political parties and take its struggle and fight to Parliament, rather than to seek backdoor deals.
As for the court-martial, it is a welcome step and hopefully, the process of accountability will be carried forward in all state institutions, not least so that ordinary Pakistanis start believing that the full force of the law doesn’t apply only to them.