Top Pakistani court issues notice to former Army Chief Bajwa, ex-ISI head for distorting facts during interviews

A top Pakistani court on Monday issued notices to former army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and ex-ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed for violating the laws for retired servicemen by allegedly distorting facts during their media interviews. The notices were issued after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) received a petition by a citizen seeking action against the two senior former army officers. IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq also issued notices to journalists Javed Chaudhary, and Shahid Maitla and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), the media regulatory watchdog. Earlier this year, the former army chief reportedly discussed various matters including jailed former prime minister and Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s ouster from power, civil-military ties and other issues in interviews with the two journalists, who wrote articles and talked to TV channels. The petitioner alleged that the journalists wrote articles based on the interviews of the retired generals that left a negative impact on the society and under the guise of freedom of speech, a criminal act was committed. The petitioner further claimed that former generals Bajwa and Faiz tainted the national events by portraying them in a false and fabricated manner. General Bajwa retired last year after serving two terms as the Chief of the Army Staff and was replaced by the incumbent General Asim Munir. However, Faiz opted for early retirement when he was overlooked as a choice for Bajwa’s successor as the army chief.