Imran Khan welcomes Pak army’s ‘internal accountability’ after arrest of ex-ISI chief Faiz Hameed

Islamabad, Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has welcomed the process of ‘internal accountability’ initiated by the military against former spymaster Lt Gen Faiz Hameed.

Hameed, who served as director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence from 2019 to 2021, was arrested following action in the complaint of a private property developer over alleged misuse of official authority.

He was arrested on August 12 in the Top City Case.

Khan made these remarks on Thursday while talking informally to journalists in Adiala Jail Rawalpindi after the hearing of a case against him.

Commenting on a statement by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif — alluding to the alleged involvement of retired Lt Gen Hameed in the May 9 protests following his arrest — the former prime minister said that “if Faiz Hameed was involved, it should be investigated”.

Hameed was head of the ISI during Khan’s term in office.

Having distanced himself from the former spy chief after news of his court martial became public, Khan on Thursday welcomed the process of ‘internal accountability’ initiated by the military and called for across-the-board action, Dawn newspaper reported.

Lt Gen Hameed was considered extremely powerful when he headed the spy agency from 2019 to 2021.

He was appointed to the coveted post when then ISI chief and current Army chief Lt Gen Asim Munir was prematurely removed from the post. It was reported then that then prime minister Imran Khan was not happy with Munir.

Later, the army decided to replace Hameed, a move vehemently opposed by Imran Khan and it is believed that it was the beginning of souring of his ties with the powerful military.

The Top City case made headlines when on November 8, 2023, Moeez Ahmed Khan, the owner of Top City, filed a petition in the Supreme Court in which he accused Hameed of misusing his authority.

He stated in the petition that on May 12, 2017, at the behest of Gen Hameed, ISI officials raided the top city office and his house and seized valuables, including gold, diamonds and money.

He also stated that Sardar Najaf, the brother of Hameed, also contacted him to resolve the issue later. The petition also claimed that Gen Hameed later personally met him to resolve the issue. He alleged that the ISI officials extorted ₹4 crore cash from him.

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, which included Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faiz Isa, Justice Attar Minullah and Justice Aminuddin, heard the case and decided to send it to the Ministry of Defence for probing the allegation.

The army announced in April this year that it constituted a high-level inquiry committee headed by a major general to look into the allegations.

Hameed took premature retirement in November 2022, four months before his retirement date after the current army chief took over. He was considered close to then Army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa.

The post of ISI chief is considered one of the most important in the Pakistan Army, which has ruled the country for more than half of its 76-plus years of existence and has hitherto wielded considerable power in matters of security and foreign policy.