Publicly available information about the credentials and history of Lt. Gen. (retd.) Faiz Hameed hardly paint him as a duty-bound officer of the Pakistan Army.
Currently facing a field general court martial for alleged misuse of authority in the Top City case, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has also alleged “multiple instances” of him violating the Army Act post-retirement. While confirmed details of the latter are sketchy, consensus holds that he has been indulging in politics during the two-year period post-retirement that all soldiers are required to desist from any such activities under law. Ayesha Siddiqa, who specializes in affairs of the armed forces, has claimed the court martial appears to be “aimed at restoring discipline within the Army and the ISI.”
Further boosting the public’s interest in the present case is how unprecedented it is. Previous court martials have largely targeted espionage, while Hameed’s case alleges corruption during his time in the ISI. His post-retirement activities, predict pundits, could also trigger “many more arrests” of his facilitators, as he is alleged to have a “large network” of both serving and retired officials in the Army, judiciary and civil bureaucracy. This is not too difficult to believe; Hameed served as head of the ISI from 2019-2021, a time during which he is said to have established a personal intelligence network that continues to work on his instructions even after his retirement. His early retirement itself provoked controversy, as he resigned within days of Army chief Gen. Asim Munir taking charge, despite the practice traditionally being restricted to officials superseded and not those who were junior in rank to the Chief of Army Staff.
Hameed’s actions during his time as ISI head made waves far beyond Pakistan. In 2021, he sparked global controversy after landing in Kabul following the Taliban’s return to power, with critics seeing the spymaster’s public appearance as “proof” of the Army’s duplicity in its dealings with Western forces. Even after his exit from the ISI, and appointments as commander of the Peshawar and Bahawalpur Corps, he was accused of supporting Imran Khan and his PTI. Faisal Vawda, a former member of the PTI who served in Khan’s federal cabinet, has even alleged Hameed was the “architect” and “mastermind” of corruption during the party’s time in government. Many are thus seeing his present circumstances as a form of comeuppance. Whether or not it proves the same remains too early to say.