On Rawalpindi’s Fight To Finish Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf Party – OpEd

Less than two weeks after the May 9 protests in which military assets and facilities in Pakistan were targeted by incensed mobs, Pakistan army’s media wing Inter Services Public Relations [ISPR] issued a press release stating that army chief Gen Syed Asim Munir had said that “legal process of trial against planners, instigators, abettors and perpetrators involved in 9 May tragedy has commenced under Pakistan Army Act [PAA] and Official Secret Act as per existing and established legal procedures derived from the Constitution of Pakistan.”

Despite public outrage against the army’s arbitrary decision to try civilians under PPA, Pakistan’s National Assembly dutifully defended Rawalpindi’s contentious decision, maintaining that “Across the world, the right of inquiry against people involved in incidents such as attacks on military installations lie with the army.” This claim in itself is debatable and is tantamount to the victim serving as both the jury and judge during trial of the accused, thereby brazenly violating the fundamental principle of natural justice.

Stating that “It is alarming to note that the Pakistani Army has stated its intention to try civilians under military laws, possibly in military courts,” Deputy Regional Director for South Asia at Amnesty International [AI] Dinushika Dissanayake has rightly pointed out that “Trying civilians in military courts is contrary to international law.” [Emphasis added]. In October 2023, a five-member bench of Pakistan’s Supreme Court declared that the trial of civilians in military courts was unconstitutional.

Rawalpindi is nevertheless going ahead and there’s no doubt that come what may, in the end it’ll have its way!

ISPR has craftily played-up the foreign hand narrative by suggesting that the May 9 riots were orchestrated by New Delhi and by participating in it, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf [PTI] supporters had betrayed the nation. It’s no secret that in Pakistan, anti-India rhetoric is the most effective and enduring stratagem to galvanise public opinion and that’s why many agree with the army’s logic that since the May 9 rioters had humiliated the Pakistan army, strong retribution against this unprecedented act was necessary to restore Rawalpindi’s ‘izzat’ [honour].

The Pakistan army’s concern for maintaining its honour and image is however very selective. In November 2023, the Supreme Court of Pakistan in its written order on a complaint of extortion and intimidation levelled by the owner of a private housing scheme against former Inter Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, stated “The allegations are of an extremely serious nature, and if true, undoubtedly would undermine the reputation of the federal government, the armed forces, ISI, and Pakistan Rangers, therefore, they cannot be left unattended.”

Alleged involvement of a serving three-star General in an extortion case is indeed a very serious matter as it reflects rather poorly the Pakistan army’s already faltering image. Hence, one had accepted that like the May 9 riots case, Rawalpindi would insist that this case should be investigated and tried by the army. But for reasons unknown the army demurred and by its own admission opened investigations against ex-ISI chief only after the Supreme Court’s explicit directions issued in November 2023 to do so.

However, what has finally emerged is even more surprising.

Rawalpindi’s investigations have concluded that the allegations of extortion and intimidation against Lt Gen Hameed have been found to be true. While confirming that “appropriate disciplinary action has been initiated against Lt Gen Faiz Hameed [Retd], under provisions of Pakistan Army Act,” ISPR has also revealed that “In addition, multiple instances of violation of Pakistan Army Act post-retirement have also been established.”

That “multiple instances of violation of Pakistan Army Act” by the former spy master escaped notice of the Pakistan army’s highly rated spy agency ISI is hard to digest. Who would ever believe that had the Pakistan army not been directed by the Supreme Court to investigate extortion and other related allegations against the former ISI chief, then the multiple violations of PPA committed by him would have gone unnoticed?

Though details of these violations have not been specified, given the proximity of the former ISI chief with Khan, what ISPR is implying is obvious. The timing of this revelation itself raises strong suspicions that Rawalpindi has adroitly used directions of the Supreme Court on investigating corruption charges against the former ISI chief to further its own motivated agena against the cricketer turned politician and has hence linked Lt Gen Hameed’s transgressions with the PTI chief and his party.

Yet, despite cornering the former ISI chief, Rawalpindi will think twice before taking any strict action against him because it knows that this could well open a can of worms. Lt Gen Hameed has been directly involved in several covert army dealings like the 2017 Rawalpindi facilitated Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s [TLP] sit-in at Faizabad against the anti-Nawaz Sharif government.

The former ISI chief is also privy to Pakistan army’s secret talks with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan [TTP] and reasons behind undue concessions made this terrorist group like unconditional release of its convicted fighters and surreptitiously allowing TTP cadres to make a systematic comeback in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [KP].

By being the first foreign official to visit Kabul and that too just days after US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and even before the Taliban interim government was formed, Lt Gen Hameed unambiguously endorsed former US President Donald Trump’s 2018 observation that “they [Pakistan government and army] give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan.”

Surprisingly, despite the inopportune timing of this visit and his much publicised tea session there that severely embarrassed both Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the Pakistan army didn’t initiate any disciplinary action against him and no prizes for guessing why!

Despite Rawalpindi’s multi pronged attack, its efforts to render former Prime Minister Imran Khan and PTI politically irrelevant haven’t fully succeeded. Whoever has given Gen Munir the idea of using Lt Gen Hameed as a weapon for delivering the coup de grâce to Khan’s political existence may not have realised that the former ISI chief is no pushover, and that just like Khan, he too will not go down without a fight.

The Rawalpindi’s ongoing fight to politically finish Khan will only further aggravate political instability in Pakistan and such the only option for Gen Munir is to sheathe the sword and talk it out with Khan. But this is easier said than done because in Pakistan where the military ‘selects’ prime minister, for an army chief to negotiate with a politician is not only blasphemous but also an unacceptable blow to Rawalpindi’s fiercely protected ‘izzat’!