Islamabad, Pakistan: No organization even not a family, which is the smallest unit of society, can operate in a befitting manner without following the honest process of accountability. Alas, accountability is rare if someone talks about the civil administration of Pakistan.
However, there is one institution left in Pakistan which is the Pakistan Army where accountability is considered the foremost and no man in uniform is above or beyond the law. Pakistan Army has again reiterated this practice by initiating appropriate disciplinary action against Lt Gen Faiz Hameed (Retd), under provisions of the Pakistan Army Act. The action is not only for his alleged involvement in the Top City case while complying with the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan but for his alleged multiple instances of violation of the Pakistan Army Act post-retirement. The process of Field General Court Martial has been initiated and Lt Gen (retired) Faiz Hameed has been taken into military custody.
Related Story: Lt General (retd) Faiz Hameed taken into military custody
Like any large organization, the army also sometimes has people who become a cause of concern for the organization due to their actions, and then the Army does not let them go scot-free as is observed always in civil institutions. In the recent past, the Pakistan Army has dismissed more than 200 officers and given severe punishments in recent years due to its zero-tolerance policy. Crimes such as abuse of office and corruption are unacceptable in the army, but keeping in mind the institution’s dignity, these punishments are not publicized. Nonetheless, this habit of not sharing news of accountability with the public had become a disadvantage for the institution and certain elements who wanted to create a fault line between the public and the Army were spreading the false narrative that the Army is above the law and there is no accountability for men in uniform although this was altogether otherwise and accountability is very strict for men in uniform.
Lt Gen (retired) Faiz Hameed became popular during Faizabad Dharna when he was DG (C) in ISI for his alleged political adventurism. He had been famous for his political maneuverability and was allegedly an integral part of Project Imran Khan. There were allegations against him for his alleged involvement in the real estate sphere in Rawalpindi through his brother who was in the provincial Revenue Department but being one of the strongest persons during Imran Khan’s tenure, nobody could dare to accuse him officially. However on November 8, 2023, after the PTI government was already voted out, the owner of Top City Moeez Ahmed Khan filed a petition in the Supreme Court in which he accused Faiz of misusing his authority for financial benefits. He claimed in the petition that on May 12, 2017, on the behest of the then Lt. Gen Faiz, ISI officials raided the top city office and his house, and during the raid, valuables, including gold, diamonds, and money, were taken away from his house by ISI officials and Sardar Najaf, the brother of Faiz, allegedly also contacted him for a deal. The petition also claimed that Gen Faiz later personally met him and assured him that some of the items that had been taken away by the ISI officials during the raid would be returned but 400 tolas of gold and cash would not be returned to him and he had constantly been harassed by officials closed to Faiz Hameed and extorted over 40 million rupees from him.
The three-member bench of the Supreme Court directed the Attorney General to look into the matter and discuss it with the relevant authorities.
In the Pakistan Army, accountability is exceptionally strict and the Director General of Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) has been time and again gave categorical statements on the strict accountability process in the Army. In the press conference held on May 7, he described the situation of self-accountability of the Army in detail and stated that self-accountability in the Army is a rigorous, transparent, and automated process that is ongoing at all times. He also added that the bigger the post, the bigger the responsibility in Pakistan Army.
If anybody compares accountability between Armed Forces and Civilian institutions, there is no comparison at all and the prime example can be that the culprits of the May 9, 2023 vandalism who had been seen in videos shared by them while torching state properties and military installations are sitting in the Parliament instead of being in jails.
Today’s statement of ISPR should be a wake-up call for the civilian system that no institution can survive until and unless justice is served and the accused are penalized while forgetting their positions and status in jobs.
