KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: Legal and political analysts said this week the arraignment of former spymaster Lt. Gen. (retired) Faiz Hamid on a number of charges, including engaging in political activities, could be a “message” for ex-premier Imran Khan and a precursor to prosecuting the jailed leader before a military court.

Hamid, who served as the director-general of Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency from June 2019 until October 2021, was widely seen to have been close to Khan while he was prime minister from 2018-2022. The government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said at the time of Hamid’s arrest in August he was part of a “political nexus” led by Khan that had planned protests by pro-Khan supporters in May 9, 2023, in which government and military buildings were attacked by rioters. Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has since said Hamid may have played the role of a “strategic adviser” to Khan in planning the violence and the ex-premier’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party provided the manpower while Hamid “masterminded the conspiracy.” 

Thousands of leaders and supporters of the PTI were arrested after the protests and many remain behind bars as they await trial. The military has also initiated army court trials of at least 103 people accused of involvement in the violence and there have been widespread reports that the military also plans to prosecute Khan under the Pakistan Army Act on charges of treason and attempting to incite a mutiny in the military. The PTI denies their leader planned the riots and says he was in prison when they took place. Khan is already on trial in a civilian court for allegedly abetting the violence, a charge he has rejected. 

The Pakistan Army Act of 1952 set up military courts to try members of the military or enemies of the state. Civilians can only be tried in such tribunals under a federal government order for offenses such as waging war against the armed forces or law enforcement agencies, or for attacking military installations or inciting mutiny.

Hamid’s lawyer declined comment. The military did not respond to an Arab News request for comment but current army chief General Asim Munir said in May, without naming anyone, there could be “no compromise or deal with the planners and architects of this dark chapter in our history.”

“The court martial of Faiz Hamid is also a message for Imran Khan,” political analyst Mazhar Abbas told Arab News. “The case with regards to May 9 is still not final and under investigation but if the nexus between Gen. Faiz and Imran is established, the case would go down in history as a landmark case.”

Imaan Mazari-Haider, a prominent human rights lawyer, questioned the intent behind Hamid’s trial.

“If there was any genuine intent to hold him [Hamid] accountable for violations of his oath, the violations of the constitution, violations of Pakistanis’ fundamental rights under his tenure as DG ISI, we would be seeing a very different kind of trial and a very different mode of accountability,” she said, referring to the secretive nature of military trials. 

“So, yes, I do think on some level, this is also being done to bring Imran Khan within the ambit of the Army Act … it’s to bring a very popular, civilian leader within the ambit of the Army Act, perhaps at a later stage.”

Khan has himself said Hamid’s arrest was meant to ultimately target him as other cases against him were falling apart and he had won a string of legal victories in civilian courts.

“It is a drama to try my case in a military court,” he was quoted as saying by his lawyer Naeem Panjutha during a hearing in jail earlier this year.

In a media briefing in September, military spokesman Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry hinted at a military trial for Khan in response to a question by a journalist. While he said the matter was under judicial consideration and therefore prohibited from public discussion, he simultaneously outlined the conditions under which a civilian could be tried under military law:

“Anyone who uses any person or persons who are bound by the Army Act for his personal or political interests, and there is evidence available about that, the law will take its own course.”

“FIX THEIR OWN HOUSE”

Pakistan’s military courts operate under a separate system from the civilian legal system and are run by military officials. Judges at such tribunals are also military officers and cases are tried at military buildings. Trials are closed to outsiders and the media.

The courts have faced widespread criticism inside Pakistan and from rights organizations globally because of their secretive nature and their parallel existence alongside a functioning civilian legal system.

Anyone tried under the Army Act has the right to defend themselves and engage a counsel of their choice. Individuals can challenge convictions in high courts and the Supreme Court.

Hamid is being tried by court-martial on charges of corruption, misuse of power in service and violation of the Army Act after his 2022 retirement, the military says. The charges are punishable by a jail sentence of up to 14 years.

“The retired officer is also accused of transgressing legal and constitutional boundaries for his personal interest at the behest of some particular political elements,” the military spokesman said at the September briefing.

Khan has waged an unprecedented campaign of defiance against Pakistan’s all-powerful military after a falling out with then-army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa in 2022, following which he was ousted from office in a parliamentary no-trust vote that he said was backed by the generals. The army denies it interferes in political affairs but has a long history of carrying out military coups in Pakistan and being the invisible guiding hand of politics even in times of civilian rule. 

Khan appointed Hamid in 2019 as the head of the ISI, one of the most powerful posts in Pakistan and one that functions at the intersection of national politics and military and foreign affairs. Two years later, when the military transferred Hamid from the ISI to a corps command, Khan initially opposed the move in what was the first public sign of divisions between him and the army top leadership.

Khan has acknowledged in interviews to Pakistani media that he wanted Hamid to remain DG ISI in 2021, when he said the opposition had started planning his ouster. 

Lawyer and columnist, Sameer Khosa, told Arab News while it was too early to speculate on whether Hamid’s trial would pave the way for Khan’s before a military court, civilians “deserve a hearing in a fair and open court where they are confronted with the evidence against them and have the ability to lead a fair and independent defense.”

“Military trials are meant for the internal disciplinary proceedings of military officers by military officers because they are bound by military discipline,” Khosa said. 

“Civilians have the right to a trial before an independent and impartial forum that is open to the public and the media. That’s a constitutional guarantee. It’s an international human rights principle.”

Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari, a senior PTI leader and close adviser to Khan, said the court martial and arraignment of the former ISI chief was an “army matter” that had no connection to Khan.

“It’s funny that the army is taking action [against Hamid] now but not in the last five years while he was in office,” the PTI spokesman told Arab News, raising questions about the timing of the case against the ex-spymaster.

“They [army] should, they need to fix their own house first before trying to link it to anybody else,” he added. “So whatever issues they have, it is their own internal housekeeping.”