Islamabad: Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday demanded an open court trial of former Pakistan spymaster Lt Gen (retd.) Faiz Hameed if his links with the May 9 violence were established as then “it would not be an internal military affair.”
These remarks came just two days after Khan on Monday expressed his fear that authorities were coercing the arrested former spymaster to become a state witness against him (Khan) in the May 9, 2023 riots.
After Khan was arrested in an accountability case last year, hundreds and thousands of his followers and workers of his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Jinnah House (Lahore Corps Commander House), Mianwali Airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad on May 9.
The Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi too was attacked by the mob for the first time.
The arrest of Hameed, the former chief of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was disclosed by the military last week.
During an informal conversation with journalists at the Adiala Jail at Rawalpindi, where he has been lodged since last year, Khan said that if Hameed is “indeed the mastermind behind the May 9 conspiracy, then the trial should be held openly,” adding that the incident was a local issue rather than a matter of national security.
Earlier in one of the similar informal talks with the media soon after Hameed was arrested, Khan had said it was an internal matter of the army.
“They’ll make Faiz Hameed turn state witness against me,” he told reporters and added, “The army chief should facilitate a transparent trial for Faiz Hameed.” Hameed, who served as director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from 2019 to 2021 when Khan was the prime minister, was arrested following action in the complaint of a private property developer over alleged misuse of official authority.
He denied that he had any association with the ex-spy chief since the latter retired in November 2022. “General Faiz became insignificant after retirement. How could he benefit me in any way?” Khan questioned, dismissing the notion that he was in contact with the former ISI chief.
The former premier also said he knew who ordered “my arrest” and this person was the “number one and the Badshah and the super King” but didn’t name anyone.
Khan also expressed concern that subjecting him (Khan) to a military trial would damage Pakistan's global image, reiterating his belief that the matter should be resolved in a civil court, not a military one, as it concerns a civilian leader, not the army's internal operations.
The former ISI chief was arrested on the complaint of a property developer who alleged that he was guilty of misuse of official authority.