Imran demands 'public trial' for former intelligence chief

Faiz's arrest a tragedy; minister says demand amounts to interference in army's internal affairsPTI chief says Malik Riaz's money is not ill-gotten, UK NCA seized it on suspicion

ISLAMABAD: While demanding a public trial of former spy chief Faiz Hameed, who is facing court martial proceedings, PTI chief Imran Khan on Wednesday preemptively demanded a public trial in his own case as well, if he is ever charged with mutiny in connection with the May 9 violence.

During an interaction with reporters after the hearing of the Rs 190 million case at Adiala Jail on Wednesday, the former prime minister asked the army chief to hold an open trial of the former director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), a demand termed as interference in the internal affairs of the army by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar.

Retired General Faiz Hameed has been detained on corruption charges levelled by the owner of a private housing complex in Islamabad. According to the military's media wing, the retired general allegedly violated sections of the Pakistan Army Act after his retirement.

The jailed PTI founder on Wednesday called the arrest of the former spy chief a tragedy and said the public trial of General Faiz would expose the regime change operation and the incidents of May 9. On that day, PTI supporters had stormed state buildings, including military installations, after Imran Khan was arrested from the Islamabad High Court.

Besides demanding a public trial for the former general, Imran Khan said that if he was tried for mutiny, the proceedings should be open to the public, adding that a former prime minister could not be court-martialled in a democracy.

The PTI leader claimed that since Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa was going to retire in a few months and he (Imran) was likely to be absolved in all the cases filed against him, there was a plan to try him in the military court.

Talking about his relationship with the former ISI chief, the former prime minister said he was never in touch with General Faiz Hameed after his transfer from ISI, saying a general becomes zero after retirement.

In response to a question on why he allowed the transfer of Malik Riaz's criminal proceeds in a confidential deal, Mr Khan said the case was closed in 2020 after the investigating officer said it was not ill-gotten money, and that it was also discussed in a cabinet meeting.

He said the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) had frozen the amount due to a suspicious transaction, and the amount could also have been returned through litigation, but that would have been done after a long and eventful process.

He said Malik Riaz had led the deal to buy Hassan Nawaz's property, adding that the deal with the NCA had been kept confidential at the request of the real estate tycoon. He, however, claimed that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) or the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) could disclose the terms of the confidential deal.

Interference in military affairs

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, for his part, termed the demand for a public trial of General Faiz as interference in the internal affairs of the army. The minister, in a statement, regretted that the PTI founder had made multiple attempts to make the case controversial.

Instead of making statements to defend Faiz Hameed, the PTI founder should clarify his position in the Al Qadir Trust corruption case, the minister said, adding that the controversial statements of the former prime minister showed that he was suffering from severe anxiety and uncertainty. The minister said the PTI founder was reluctant to accept that the issue of General Hameed was an internal matter of the army, which proved that the former intelligence chief was the PTI chief's trump card.

He said the PTI chief seemed to be in a state of mental disarray as he sometimes called the former ISI chief an asset or a hero while on other occasions he took a completely opposite stand. In the Faiz Hameed case, he said it seemed that the PTI founder had no qualms about using people for his own personal interests.

IHC rejects petition

Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ruled on a petition by Mr Khan seeking the record of the NAB executive council meeting that recommended closure of the ₹190 million case. A division bench of the IHC comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Babar Sattar heard the petition.

The prosecution submitted the relevant file to the court and also assured the bench that it would be shared with the defence counsel.

The petition stated that the NAB had recommended in the 343rd Executive Committee meeting in April 2020 to close the case and that the investigator had admitted certain facts regarding the meeting during cross-examination. It demanded that the minutes of the meeting be produced before the trial court as they were a key evidence for the defence.

Published in Dawn, August 22, 2024

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