Three retired military personnel were taken into military custody in connection with court martial proceedings against former spymaster Faiz Hameed for his alleged involvement in victimising the owner of a private housing society, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a press release on Thursday.

According to the statement, three retired officers were under military custody for “actions prejudicial to military discipline”.

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“In connection with the FGCM proceedings of Lt Gen (Retd) Faiz Hameed, three retired officers are also in military custody for their actions prejudicial to military discipline,” the military’s media affairs wing said.

“Further investigations of certain retired officers and their accomplices for fomenting instability at the behest of and in collusion with vested political interests are continuing.”

The ISPR has neither revealed the names and ranks of the three retired officers nor disclosed when they were taken into custody.

In an unprecedented step, the army on Monday announ­ced Gen Hameed’s arrest, the previous head of the premier Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, on allegations of violating the Army Act. According to a source, Gen Hameed was taken into custody from Rawalpindi when he was summoned for a meeting by a senior military official.

The move, prompted by allegations of misconduct levelled by the owner of a private housing society, shattered the long-standing perception that spy chiefs were untouchable in the country where generals have long wielded unparalleled influence.

The army cited a Nove­m­ber 2023 directive from the Supreme Court of Pak­i­s­tan, which instructed Ka­n­­war Moeez Khan, own­er of Islamabad’s Top City housing society, to seek redressal of grievances against Gen Hameed thro­ugh relevant channels, including the Ministry of Defence, as the basis for initiating action against the former spymaster.

More wider arrests to come: information minister

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar later addressed the developments, saying an institution had prioritised self-accountability and kicked off an investigation in that vein.

“We think this act of self-accountability is positive and that it is a step that needs to be lauded, moving towards accountability and discord in the country being stopped.”

Tarar said every institution should be self-accountable, adding that it was very good that the military had initiated the process.

He said today’s ISPR statement “proved that the three officers were arrested as a result of the investigation from Gen Hameed”.

The minister further said that the most important part of today’s ISPR statement was that “on the direction of one political party and its leader, the words used [in the statement] are ‘behest’ and ‘collusion’ with Gen Hameed due to which discord and instability were being spread in the country, it was being destabilised and there were attempts to impose an uncertain situation in the country and there were attacks on security.

“So this collusion and the conspiracies that are being concocted on the direction and will of the PTI founder, I think it was a very good and timely decision [of the military]” to arrest Gen Hameed and the subsequent three officers.

Tarar alleged that Gen Hameed and his allies were also in touch with former prime minister Imran Khan at the time of the no-confidence motion against him “and were fully busy in political wrangling”.

The minister said that no one could be permitted to create instability and chaos in the country or compromise its security.

“It seems that further arrests will be brought into effect and its ambit will not just remain limited to the military but whoever is involved and whoever has compromised the country’s security … all those will come in its grasp.”

Tarar claimed that Imran was also sending messages from jail and was now attempting to distance himself from the arrest. “But you cannot distance from it, it is clear as day that the direction and wish of the PTI founder were involved when Gen Hameed did all these actions and there was a communication and link due to which these matters were conducted but the PTI founder was leading it.”

The minister said further evidence and names were coming to light after the investigation of the arrested officers.

He said there was “glaring and irrefutable evidence” present on whose basis the arrests were conducted.

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon similarly said the arrests were “welcomed the way important decisions are being taken for Pakistan’s security and the noose is tightening against all those people who whether they were involved in May 9 or conspiracies against institutions or those who crossed every limit to malign institutions and did not care for the country’s security just for the greed for power and their positions in collusion with a political party and the PTI founder”.

Memon said the recent arrests proved that “PTI leadership and some enablers were involved” in digital terrorism, campaigns against institutions and attempts to spread discord.

The case against Gen Hameed

The military had reportedly formed an inquiry committee in April to investigate allegations of misuse of authority against the former head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Media reports had said the committee was formed by the military as a gesture of self-accountability and would be headed by a serving major general.

They had said the committee was formed in the light of directives of the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Defence.

In its written order issued on November 14, the apex court had said that allegations of an “extremely serious nature” against ex-spymaster retired Lt-Gen Faiz Hameed “cannot be left unattended” as they would undermine the reputation of the country’s institutions if they were proven to be true.

The written order had said: “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.”

The management of Top City, a private housing scheme, had levelled grave allegations against the former ISI chief, claiming that he had orchestrated a raid on the offices and residence of its owner, Moeez Khan.

In November 2023, the Supreme Court had asked the owner of the housing society to approach the relevant quarters, including the defence ministry, for the redressal of his grievances against the former spymaster and his aides.

The newly constituted inquiry committee will prepare its report in the light of its findings and present it to the relevant authorities, the reports had said.

In March 2023, then-interior minister Rana Sanaullah said that a probe was underway against the ex-ISI boss and his brother over alleged corruption and accumulating assets beyond means.

In March 2024, a Rawalpindi court had sent retired naib tehsildar Najaf Hameed, brother of the former spymaster, to Adiala jail on a 14-day judicial remand. Najaf, along with co-accused persons, had sought pre-arrest bail in the FIR registered with the Anti-Corruption Esta­b­l­i­shment (ACE) in Rawalpindi. The FIR had alleged that former minister for mineral resources Hafiz Ammar Yasir acquired properties worth billions of rupees in the name of benamidars.

Retirement and controversial past

Gen Hameed had opted to seek early retirement and sent his resignation to the high command in November 2022, according to unnamed sources. He was made the ISI chief in June 2019.

He was the eye of the storm in an alleged standoff between the military and the PTI government over the appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as the new chief of the ISI in the last quarter of 2021.

The army had announced on October 6, 2021, that Gen Hameed was appointed the Peshawar corps commander, while Lt Gen Anjum was appointed in his place. But the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had not issued an official notification of Lt Gen Anjum’s appointment until three weeks later, leading to frenzied speculation of strains in civil-military relations.

After delays, the PMO had eventually notified the appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as the new ISI chief on Oct 26, 2021. Imran had later said he never wanted to “bring his own army chief” and that he “never meddled” in Pakistan Army’s affairs.

Gen Hameed was among the six senior-most generals whose name was included by General Headquarters in the list of potential candidates for the two top military offices, sent to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for approval in November 2022.

Before assuming charge as Bahawalpur corps commander, Gen Hameed had worked in the same position in Peshawar.

The former spymaster has been the subject of many controversies in the country’s political landscape for the past decade.

Gen Hameed’s name first caught the public eye when he helped end the Faizabad dharna by the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan in November 2017 through an agreement.

In a suo motu notice of the incident, the Supreme Court in February 2019 had ruled that the ISI, the Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence, and the Inter-Services Public Relations “must not exceed their respective mandates”.

He had been the target of strong criticism from PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz for allegedly having a role in their convictions and for backing the previous set-up under PTI.

In July 2018, former Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui had made serious allegations against personnel of a security agency, claiming that they were manipulating judicial proceedings. He also claimed the agencies approached the IHC chief justice to ensure Nawaz and Maryam remained behind bars for the elections. The judge was subsequently sacked.

However, in December 2023, he had named several retired army generals, as well as some former judges, as parties in the case against his removal.

Senior counsel Hamid Khan, on behalf of the ex-judge, had moved an amended application before the Supreme Court to name as respondents in his petition former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, Gen Hameed, three retired brigadiers — Irfan Ramay, Faisal Marwat and Tahir Wafai — as well as a former chief justice of the IHC, Anwar Khan Kasi, and a former registrar of the Supreme Court, Arbab Muhammad Arif.

Gen Hameed rejected the allegations of his involvement in the constitution of the IHC benches to prolong the detention of Nawaz and Maryam in his response to the petition, claiming that the judge had dragged him into the case for no reason.

Furthermore, then-human rights minister Riaz Pirzada claimed in February 2023 that Gen Hameed wanted to bring the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) back to the country.

In May 2023, former federal minister Faisal Vawda accused Gen Hameed of being the “architect, mastermind, and biggest beneficiary” of the Al-Qadir Trust case.

The case alleges that former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife obtained billions of rupees and land worth hundreds of kanals from Bahria Town Ltd for legalising Rs50 billion, which was later identified and returned to the country by the UK during the tenure of the PTI government.

Petition

As per the petition, on May 12, 2017, the Pakistan Rangers and officials of the ISI raided the office of Top City and Moeez’s residence and took away valuables, including gold and diamond ornaments and money, in connection with a purported terrorism case.

The petition further stated that Gen Hameed’s brother Sardar Najaf mediated and tried to resolve the issue. After his acquittal, the petition claimed, Gen Hameed contacted Moeez through the latter’s cousin — a brigadier in the army — to arrange a meeting.

The petition claimed that during the meeting, Gen Hameed told the petitioner that he would return some of the items taken away during the raid except for 400 tola gold and cash.

The petition claimed that retired brigadier Naeem Fakhar and retired brigadier Ghaffar of the ISI allegedly “forced” the petitioner to “pay 4 crores in cash” and “sponsor a private AAP TV network for a few months”.

As per the petition, former ISI officials Irtaza Haroon, Sardar Najaf, Wasim Tabish, Zahid Mehmood Malik, and Mohammad Munir were also “involved in the illegal takeover of the housing society”.