Info minister says PTI founder’s demand to hold open trial of former spy chief “is intervention in army’s affairs”

Court Reporter

Rawalpindi: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan on Wednesday demanded an open trial of former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lieutenant General (retd) Faiz Hamid who was taken into custody by the military on charges of abuse of power and violating the Army Act.

The former prime minister, who was removed from office via a parliamentary vote in 2022, said the open trial would benefit the country and allow it to prosper.

“I demand an open trial of Faiz Hamid with media should be given access to cover it,” said the ex-premier during an informal interaction with journalists in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail where has been incarcerated for over a year in different cases ranging from corruption to terrorism.

Responding to Khan’s statement, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar termed the ex-prime minister’s statement an intervention in the army’s affairs.

Taking a swipe at the former PM, the information said the PTI founder was continuously trying to make the matter related to the army’s internal accountability process “controversial” through his statements.

Tarar asked Imran to submit his response in the £190m case instead of giving statements to defend Hamid. He added that the PTI founder’s contradictory statements regarding the ex-ISI chief reflected that he is quite worried.

Following the former spy master’s arrest, the ex-premier had distanced himself from the retired general, who served as DG ISI during his tenure,  claiming that he has no connection with him.

“If the military wants the accountability of General Faiz [then] it should proceed and do it,” Khan said, asserting that it is the army’s internal matter.

Welcoming the development, the former premier said it was good that army launched the process of internal accountability, he noted. However, he urged the military to ensure that the process of accountability should be across the board.

Responding to a question relating to his past engagement with the former spymaster, Khan said that while he was the premier he did not want to remove General Faiz from his office amid regime change in Afghanistan.

The embattled PTI founder further detailed he had exchanged heated words with the former army chief, General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa over the issue of removing the former ISI boss from his post, adding Bajwa removed Faiz for the sake of his extension. “I repeatedly asked Bajwa not to remove Faiz but to no avail,” he added.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had announced the arrest of the former ISI chief on August 12, saying that he was “taken into custody” over allegations of land grabbing and snatching valuables from the owner of a private housing society.

“Complying with the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, a detailed court of inquiry was undertaken by the Pakistan Army to ascertain the correctness of complaints in the Top City Case made against Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hamid,” the army’s media wing said.

The process of court martial has been initiated against the former chief of the country’s premier spy agency over complaints in the Top City Case, it added.

Three more retired officers were taken into military custody after Hamid’s arrest in connection with the same housing scheme case.

Sources told media that two of the officers in the military custody were of brigadier rank and one was of colonel rank.