ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Ataullah Tarar on Saturday said former spymaster Lt Gen (retired) Faiz Hameed, who was arrested this week, was part of a “political nexus” led by ex-prime minister Imran Khan that attempted to destabilize Pakistan.
Pakistan’s army said on August 12 that Hameed, who served as the director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from June 2019 until October 2021, had been taken into custody and was facing a court martial over allegations of land grabbing and snatching valuables from the owner of a housing society.
However, a statement issued by the army later indicted that the former spymaster was also being investigated for his involvement in political activities and three other officers had also been arrested in this regard. The former ISI chief is widely seen as having been close to Khan, who has been in jail since August 2023 on a slew of charges.
Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, Tarar said the army had its own mechanism of internal accountability and the officials, including Hameed, arrested as a result of recent investigations were part of a political nexus led by Khan, which aimed to “create anarchy” in the South Asian country.
“He [Khan] attempted to spread unrest, harm national integrity in cahoots with these people [Hameed and others]. Imran Niazi was the mastermind of all these conspiracies against national integrity and to create anarchy in the country, and he was being facilitated by Gen Faiz and his colleagues,” Tarar said.
“This was a political nexus under the leadership of the PTI [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf] founding chairman, which Gen Faiz and other officers were linked with and people of other institutions have also been a part of it.”
There was no immediate comment from Khan’s party on Tarar’s statement.
Khan, widely believed to have been propelled to power with the backing of the military in 2018, waged an unprecedented campaign of defiance against the military establishment following his ouster in a parliamentary no-trust vote in 2022.
The former prime minister blames the army for not preventing the no-confidence motion against him, which he said was part of a broader international conspiracy against his government, hatched in Washington and implemented by his political rivals in Pakistan. However, US officials and others targeted by his allegations have frequently denied the charge.
Khan’s PTI party has also frequently claimed harassment and intimidation by state agencies since the downfall of its administration, though the state institutions deny the allegations.
It is widely believed that Hameed was advising Khan when the PTI was publicly criticizing the army and its top leadership, though local media reports claim the former prime minister has distanced his party from Hameed, calling his arrest “the army’s internal matter.”
Tarar said Khan was able to communicate with his supporters from prison, adding that the scope of the recent investigations would expand further and more arrests were likely to be made in this regard.
“This political collusion, this anarchy that was spread under the leadership of the PTI founding chairman, all these people [Gen Hameed and others] were part of that, who not only partook in politics, but also harmed peace and national integrity,” he said.
“This scope of investigation will expand... these matters will go on transparently.”