On August 12, two days before the country’s 77th Independence Day, the Pakistani military’s Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) dropped a bombshell. It issued a press release which deserves to be quoted in full.
It states, “Complying with the orders of Supreme Court of Pakistan, a detailed court of inquiry, was undertaken by Pakistan Army, to ascertain correctness of complaints in Top City Case made against Lt Gen Faiz Hameed (Retd). Consequently, appropriate disciplinary action has been initiated against Lt Gen Faiz Hameed (Retd), under provisions of Pakistan Army Act. In addition, multiple instances of violation of Pakistan Army Act post retirement have also been established. The process of Field General Court Martial has been initiated and Lt Gen Faiz Hameed (Retd) has been taken into military custody”.
Lt Gen Faiz Hameed is a former DG, ISI. He was a favourite of former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party’s founder Imram Khan. Khan had persuaded then Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa to replace Lt Gen Asim Munir who was serving as DG ISI with Hameed in June 2019. However, two years later in October 2021 Bajwa appointed Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as DG, ISI, and sent Hameed to head the Peshawar Corp. Khan demurred. He wanted Hameed to continue but no Pakistan Army Chief would allow any interference in his running of the institution. Hence, Bajwa dug his heels in, compelling Khan to clear Anjum’s appointment.
However, Khan, trying to establish that he was a strong Prime Minister and at the urging of his wife Bushra Bibi, took three weeks to do so. Bajwa found this intolerable. The incident sowed the seeds of Bajwa-Khan differences which culminated in the latter losing the prime minister’s chair in April 2022. When Bajwa’s extended term ended in November 2022 it was Asim Munir, at the insistence of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, who was appointed army chief. Hameed took voluntary retirement.
No former DG ISI has ever been taken into custody or subjected to a court martial before. The action taken against former DG ISI Asad Durrani for collaborating with former R&AW chief AS Dulat in co-authoring the book, The Spy Chronicles, was on a different footing altogether. Durrani was found wanting in adhering to Pakistan’s military code and his pension was suspended but was later restored. The step against Hameed is, therefore, a stunning development in Pakistan’s military history. And, as its military is its most important institution it is a most important development in its national life as well.
Hameed’s arrest flows from the orders of the Pakistan Supreme Court in a complaint filed last year under an article of Pakistan’s constitution under which it is empowered to act under its original jurisdiction. The petitioner, Kunwar Moeez Khan, a flamboyant builder, alleged that Hameed was part of a conspiracy in 2017 to extort money from him. At that time Hameed was a senior ISI officer.
The court was unwilling to give orders itself but asked the government to conduct its investigations and take action. That gave an opening to Munir to go after his bete-noire Khan and also Hameed. Thus, the arrest is part of the larger Munir-Imran Khan fight to the finish which is on-going.
The ISPR press release also states that Hameed broke the army code after his retirement. These allegations go beyond the scope of the Supreme Court’s orders. They are to give no scope of legal escape to Hameed in the court martial and also to tangentially hurt Khan. Even more, they are to demonstrate to any officer in the army that Munir will not spare him if he harbours any sympathy for Khan. The press release, therefore, implies that the court martial will relate not only to the Top City case but will also take into account Hameed’s infringement of the Army Act after his retirement. This shows that Munir will ruthlessly pursue officers who are not completely loyal to him even if they leave the army.
A question that arises is why has Munir announced this action against Hameed at a time when Pakistan was rejoicing in the success of Arshad Nadeem. Nadeem had, through his throwing the javelin to 92.97 metres, on August 8 not only secured the gold medal at the Paris Olympic but broke the Olympic record as well. He had made this achievement in the face of great difficulties because he did not get any real support in his country; Pakistan’s infrastructure for promoting field and track athletics is antiquated.
Indeed, apart from monetary awards the Pakistan government has also conferred upon Nadeem the country’s second highest civilian honour Hilal-e-Imtiaz. Hence, the euphoria generated by Nadeem’s gold medal would have continued through its Independence Day celebrations. However, now the shadow of the Hameed development will hang over the Independence Day joy though no dignitary is likely to directly refer to it. They will talk about Nadeem’s great achievement but the Hameed shadow will definitely be there.
Munir’s action would lead to enormous speculation not only because it is targeted against Hameed but also because of its timing. Has it been taken because some section of the men in khaki were willing to come out against Munir and he had to stop them in their tracks through this ruthless action even at the cost of taking the country’s attention from the feel-good factor generated by Nadeem’s gold medal? There are no definite answers as yet but the timing does lend itself to the view that Munir had to take decisive action immediately and that it could not wait till after the Independence Day celebrations had concluded.
The feel-good factor in Pakistan was complemented by the graciousness shown by Indian javelin star Neeraj Chopra’s mother Saroj Devi at Nadeem’s victory. Chopra got the silver medal in Paris though at the Tokyo Olympics he had won the gold. Saroj Devi told reporters that she felt happy for Nadeem because he too was her son. In Pakistan, Nadeem’s mother, Raziah Parveen, also told reporters that she too thought of Neeraj as her son. And, when asked on August 11, about what Saroj Devi had said about him, Nadeem was gracious and said that he was grateful for her prayers and considers her a mother too. Now all this emotion will not get any attention in Pakistan by Munir’s action against Hameed and its timing.
The Hameed arrest profiles the condition of Pakistan just as it celebrates its Independence Day. It shows the great mess it is in. The root cause of Pakistan’s trouble eventually lies in its animosity towards India. Indeed, every time an Indian leader has tried to tread the positive path, the Pakistan army has intervened to derail the positive movement. That was witnessed a quarter of a century ago when then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee went the extra mile to pursue peace and visited Lahore in February 1999. He went so far as to go to the Minar-e-Pakistan, which stands at the very place in Lahore where the Indian Muslim League adopted the Pakistan resolution in March 1940. In the monument’s visitors’ book Vajpayee wrote that a stable and prosperous Pakistan is in India’s interests. These words should have assured the Pakistani generals of India’s intentions especially as they came from an Indian leader whose entire political thinking had earlier revolted against the partition of India. In December 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi again made a historic attempt by stopping in Lahore on his way back from Kabul to India to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.
Vajpayee’s attempt ended on the cold heights of Kargil where the Indian army magnificently responded to the Pakistani army’s misadventure. Modi’s gesture met an end when the army, no doubt, caused the Pathankot terrorist attack within ten days of his Lahore visit. It was angry that Modi had not reached out to it but to Pakistan’s elected leader and it was also unwilling to abandon the sponsorship of terrorism.
Why is it important to recall all these recent and earlier developments? The answer is because Independence Days should compel introspection on benefits and negatives of pursued policies and approaches. And, if this is undertaken honestly by the Pakistani establishment on its 77th Independence Day it would be compelled to acknowledge how much its India’s policy has been responsible for comprehensively ruining Pakistan. At the same time, it would also be forced to accept that it has not been able to hinder India’s march forward despite all its hostility undertaken by itself and through its nexus with China.
It is doubtful though if the Pakistani establishment is capable of introspection. Indeed, in recent months it has once again upped terrorist activities in the Jammu Division of the Union Territory of J&K. This confirms that the Pakistan army is unwilling to pursue the path of peace with India. The natural consequence of this will inevitably be that Pakistan will continue to remain in the economic, social and political quagmire it is currently in.
The writer is a former Indian diplomat who served as India’s Ambassador to Afghanistan and Myanmar, and as secretary, the Ministry of External Affairs. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.
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