Pakistan Army indicts former ISI chief Faiz Hameed for ‘engaging in political activities’

Months after his unprecedented arrest, former Pakistani spy chief Faiz Hameed has been formally indicted in the ongoing court martial proceedings.

In Pakistan where the military-intelligence establishment continues to call the shots even though a civilian government formally runs the country, the arrest and indictment of a spy chief —next in power only to the army chief— is unheard of.

Lieutenant General (Retired) Hameed, a former Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has been indicted for “engaging in political activities”, said the military in a press release on Tuesday (December 10).

In August, Faiz was arrested in a case that stemmed from allegations of corruption and misuse of office levelled on him by Moeez Khan, a businessman who owns the Top City housing society in Islamabad.

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Khan had alleged that Pakistan Rangers and ISI personnel raided his office and home and took away cash and jewellery. Following the raid, Khan alleged that Hameed reached out to him through a relative and said that his troubles would go away if he would give him 400 tola gold and an undisclosed sum of cash.

Hameed linked to May 9 violence by Imran Khan’s supporters

The indictment has linked to Hameed to violence by jailed former Pakistani premier Imran Khan’s supporters on May 9, 2023.

Following Khan’s ouster, the supporters of his Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) party on May 9, 2023, attacked Pakistani military installations across the country, including the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, headquarters of other formations, and residences of corps commanders.

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Hameed, who has long been seen as being close to Khan, has been indicted for “collusion with vested political interests”.

In the first place, Hameed has been “formally arraigned on charges of engaging in political activities, violations of Official Secret Act detrimental to safety and interest of the state, misuse of authority and government resources and causing wrongful loss to a person(s)”, said the military in a statement carried by Dawn.

The statement further said, “During the process, involvement of Lt Gen Faiz Hamid (retd), in events related to creating agitation and unrest, leading up to multiple incidents including but not limited to 9th May 2023 incident for fomenting instability; at the behest of and in collusion with vested political interests, is also being separately investigated.”

Since his ouster in 2022 in a trust vote, Khan and his supporters have clashed with the Pakistan army. Khan, who has spent much of time since in jail after being slapped with more than 100 cases, has maintained that the military-intelligence establishment and other political parties opposed to him colluded with the United States to oust him.

In the case stemming from Top City owner Khan’s complaint, three more former senior army officers were arrested in addition to Hameed.