The 14-year jail sentence pronounced by a military court on Pakistan’s former ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hamid shuts the door on a man seen as close to ousted former prime minister Imran Khan and therefore a potential challenger to current Chief of Defence Force Gen Asim Munir.
It marks the rare instance when the army has turned on its own. Recall the army stood by Gen Parvez Musharraf despite everything: the humiliation when he had to withdraw his forces from the Kargil heights, even the nationwide lawyers’ agitation from 2007 to 2009, that ultimately forced his resignation.
But as Pakistan scholar Suba Chandran notes, “Munir may have had no option; he had to send a message down the khaki line since the ouster of Imran Khan, an ethnic Pashtun, has generated fissures within the 600,000-man army. The Pashtun element in the Pakistan Army, estimated at over 15%, is seen to be pro-Imran and his removal remains an issue, although institutional discipline has ensured nobody has broken ranks.”
But there’s another issue. For decades, the Pakistan Army supported, trained and armed the Taliban. Army officers have made their careers in Afghanistan, and many believe the rupture with the Taliban is a blunder and must be corrected. Likewise, the incarceration of Imran, who was known for his pro-Taliban views (“Taliban Khan”), is not to their liking.
Munir, however, has gone on the opposite plank, and there is even talk in Islamabad of waging war against the Taliban. The jailing of Gen Hamid on charges of engaging in political activities, violating the Official Secrets Act, ‘detrimental to safety and state interest’ and misuse of authority and resources, is a warning.
The Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported that Faiz Hamid had been linked to unnamed politicians to engineer unrest. Without naming Imran Khan, the Inter-Services Public Relations said actions were taken “at the behest of and in collusion with political elements”.
Hamid also faces a separate investigation of his role in the May 2023 attacks in Pakistan by thousands of Khan’s supporters on scores of military installations and offices to protest against the arrest of the 72-year-old former cricket star.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Hamid had crossed “red lines” and acted as an advisor to Khan’s party to try to create chaos in the country.
For now, Munir holds all the cards, but as has been seen in the past, whether army or civilian, nobody stays at the top in Pakistan for very long.
