Rawalpindi, Pakistan, 10 Dec. 2024

Inter-services Public Relations (ISPR), Pakistan's land forces media wing  has announced today the following :

'On 12 August 2024, process of Field General Court Martial (FGCM) was initiated against Lt Gen Faiz Hamid (Retd) under provisions of Pakistan Army Act and in first place Lt Gen Faiz Hamid (Retd) 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 & government resources and causing wrongful loss to a person (s).

During the process, involvement of Lt Gen Faiz Hamid (Retd), in events related to creating agitation and unrest, leading upto 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.

Lt Gen Faiz Hamid (Retd) is being afforded with all legal rights as per the law', ISPR announcement concluded.

Lt G.en (Retd) Faiz Hameed has been a close ally of Imran Khan about whom the former Prime Minister has repeatedly said how much Gen Hameed has been instrumental even in handling parliamentarians.

development comes almost four months after the army announced the arrest of and FGCM proceedings against Gen Hameed, the previous head of the premier Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, on allegations of violating the Army Act.

According to a source, Gen Faiz Hameed was taken into custody from Rawalpindi when he was summoned for a meeting by a senior military official.

The move, prompted by allegations of misconduct levelled by the owner of a private housing society, shattered the long-standing perception that spy chiefs were untouchable in the country where generals have long wielded unparalleled influence.

The army had cited a November 2023 directive from the Supreme Court, which instructed Ka­n­­war Moeez Khan, own­er of Islamabad’s  Top City Housing society, to seek redressal of grievances against Gen Faiz Hameed thro­ugh relevant channels, including the Ministry of Defence, as the basis for initiating action against the former spymaster.

Appointment, Retirement and Controversial Past

Gen Hameed hailed from the army’s Baloch Regiment. He was appointed as the ISI director general in June 2019, replacing incumbent Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir, who was then a lieutenant general.

Gen Faiz Hameed had opted to seek early retirement and sent his resignation to the high command in November 2022, according to unnamed sources. He was made the ISI Chief in June 2019.

He was the eye of the storm in an alleged between the military and the PTI government over the appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as the new chief of the ISI in the last quarter of 2021.

The army had announced on October 6, 2021, that Gen Hameed was appointed the Peshawar corps commander, while Lt Gen Anjum was appointed in his place. But the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had not issued an official notification of Lt Gen Anjum’s appointment until three weeks later, leading to frenzied speculation of strains in civil-military relations.

After delays, the PMO had eventually notified the appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as the new ISI chief on Oct 26, 2021. Imran had later said he never wanted to “bring his own army chief” and that he “never meddled” in Pakistan Army’s affairs.

Gen Hameed was among the six senior-most generals whose name was included by General Headquarters in the list of potential candidates for the two top military offices, sent to then-Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for approval in November 2022.

Before assuming charge as Bahawalpur corps commander, Gen Hameed had worked in the same position in Peshawar. The former spymaster has been the subject of many controversies in the country’s political landscape for the past decade.

Gen Hameed’s name first caught the public eye when he helped end the Faizabad sit-in by the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) in November 2017 through an agreement.

In a suo motu notice of the incident, the Supreme Court in February 2019 had ruled that the ISI, the Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence, and the ISPR “must not exceed their respective mandates”.

He had been the target of strong criticism from PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz for allegedly having a role in their convictions and for backing the previous set-up under PTI.

In July 2018, former Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui had made serious allegations against personnel of a security agency, claiming that they were manipulating judicial proceedings. He also claimed the agencies approached the IHC chief justice to ensure Nawaz and Maryam remained behind bars for the elections. The judge was subsequently sacked.

However, in December 2023, he had named a number of retired army generals, as well as some former judges, as parties in the case against his removal.

Senior counsel Hamid Khan, on behalf of the ex-judge, had moved an amended application before the Supreme Court to name as respondents in his petition former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, Gen Faiz Hameed, three retired brigadiers — Irfan Ramay, Faisal Marwat and Tahir Wafai — as well as a former chief justice of the IHC, Anwar Khan Kasi, and former SC registrar Arbab Muhammad Arif.

Gen Faiz Hameed rejected the allegations of his involvement in the constitution of the IHC benches to prolong the detention of Nawaz and Maryam in his response to the petition, claiming that the judge had dragged him into the case for no reason.

Furthermore, then-human rights minister Riaz Pirzada claimed in February 2023 that Gen Hameed wanted to bring the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) back to the country.

In May 2023, former federal minister Faisal Vawda accused Gen Hameed of being the “architect, mastermind, and biggest beneficiary” of the Al Qadir Trust Case.

On Monday, Vawda alleged that the PTI was using its Civil Disobedience Call as a tactic to influence legal proceedings against Gen Faiz Hameed.