- Conviction of former ISI chief strictly limited to his individual actions.
- Growing Expectations for Accountability Beyond the Military: Sources
- They add judges, bureaucrats, politicians can come under scrutiny.
ISLAMABAD: Following the conviction of former Inter-Services Intelligence Director (ISI DG) Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hamid, certain political and media circles have started speculating about the possibility of legal action against former Army Chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa.
However, informed sources have refuted such allegations and stated that there is neither any inquiry nor any proceeding against Gen (retd) Bajwa.
Sources said the gossip circulating in some quarters is baseless. According to them, the military accountability process that culminated in the conviction of the former spymaster was strictly evidence-based and limited to his individual actions, with no material linking the former army chief to the case.
Instead, sources indicate that after the army completed the accountability process against one of its own senior officers, expectations are growing that accountability may extend beyond the military domain.
Judges, bureaucrats, politicians and even media figures who have allegedly played roles in past political engineering or overstepped constitutional and legal boundaries may come under scrutiny in the coming days.
A similar position had previously been conveyed by the military’s spokesman. In a press conference last year, the ISPR DG, while responding to questions arising from former ISI chief’s arrest and court-martial proceedings, made it clear that the military accountability system is transparent and does not operate on allegations or assumptions but on solid evidence.
Asked whether former prime minister Imran Khan could be tried under the Army Act in connection with the Gen (retd) Faiz case, the ISPR DG had termed the issue as hypothetical and said the case was sub judice.
However, he stressed that if a person under military law is found to have used a person who falls under the jurisdiction of the Army Act for personal or political gains and evidence is found, the law would take its own course.
The military spokesman was also questioned about the role of former army chief Gen (retd) Bajwa and former ISI DG Lt Gen (retd) Naveed Mukhtar in the appointment and promotion of Gen (retd) Faiz. In response, the ISPR DG I emphasized that it would be unfair to link others to the actions of a person who, out of his personal interests and at the behest of certain political elements, overstepped his constitutional and legal boundaries.
These remarks, coupled with the absence of evidence against Gen (retd) Bajwa or Gen (retd) Mukhtar, clearly indicate that there is no case against the former army chief in the Gen (retd) Faiz case.
Sources claim that even if there is no action against Gen (retd) Bajwa, the post-Faiz scenario should open the door to a wider accountability process targeting those in civil institutions who allegedly facilitated or benefited from unconstitutional behavior in the past.
Such accountability, they say, would be essential to ensure that responsibility is established across the board and not applied selectively.
Originally published in The News
