Faisal Vawda ‘predicted’ Faiz Hameed’s verdict ‘a long time ago’

Senator Faisal Vawda said on Thursday that the unprecedented conviction of former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Faiz Hameed was “just the beginning” and claimed that the former spymaster was now providing evidence in his trial against former prime minister Imran Khan and others in connection with the May 9 events.

In a post on X reacting to the Field General Court Martial (FGCM) verdict, Vawda said the development had taken place exactly as he had earlier predicted “at a time when no one could even imagine it”. “14 years in prison … this is the beginning,” he wrote.

The former federal minister stressed that Hameed’s conviction related to “only one case (four charges)” and that trials in other cases, including those linked to May 9, were still ongoing. He argued that the testimony Hameed allegedly gave “against Khan sahab / jadoogar and others” would not reduce the former spy chief’s sentence.

Vawda also revisited his long-standing claim that he had been expelled from the PTI “a year before May 9” because he had warned the party leadership not to follow this course of action. “I said then that once they hit the road to May 9, there would be no going back,” he added.

He warned that PTI members involved in the May 9 violence, including those who had since “moved to the sidelines”, would not escape responsibility, nor would “those who used their pen against Pakistan (([former Supreme Court judge] Athar Minallah)”, or those who “still steered politics in the same direction today”.

Read more: Ex-ISI chief Faiz Hameed sentenced to 14 years in prison by military court

Vawda went on to praise the army chief: “The nation loves the chief of its victorious army, Asim Munir, with all its heart. The reason is that what did not happen for 75 years has now begun… the foundation of justice has been laid in his own institution.” He claimed that the development had proved that “no general, no judge and no political leader is greater than Pakistan. Pakistan is above everything”.

Vawda reiterated that “the ongoing narratives of killings, violence, abuses and helping enemies against Pakistan” would no longer be given “an empty space” and would be made an example of “lawfulness”. He said: “Barbarism will be used to lead anti-state elements to their final fate”. “Pakistan will always live on,” he added.

‘9. may facilitators next’

The senator said separately that the decisive phase would take place after the verdicts in the May 9 cases were handed down.

Referring to PTI, he said the political party behind the violent protests would “see its fate written on the wall”, adding that the process of justice “will not stop now”. He argued that the real reckoning was in the still pending cases related to the May 9 riots, which he accused the PTI and its founder Imran Khan of orchestrating.

He said the May 9 events unleashed “devastation” and damaged “the state, politics, judiciary, democracy”, alongside an alleged attempt to seize control of the media. With this latest conviction, “the foundation has been laid that nothing is greater than Pakistan; the principle of accountability and reward has now been established”.

Also read: ‘No one is above the law’: Journalists, politicians welcome Faiz Hameed verdict

The former PTI leader alleged that the party in charge engaged in “drama” while its founder oversaw a rampage that saw people injured and national institutions, martyrs’ memorials and state symbols attacked.

He claimed that he had repeatedly warned his former colleagues that such actions had “no way back”, only to be expelled from the party for doing so. He emphasized that the fact that “their own [army’s] man’s trial was not stayed” marked an unprecedented shift.

The senator said the core issue in Pakistan had long been the absence of a functioning system of accountability. “Army Chief Gen Asim Munir has initiated this corrective process from his own institution.”

Vawda further said that those who facilitated the violent protests on May 9 would also be “wiped out”, adding that if the armed forces were not willing to spare their own, “do you think others will remain safe?”

He said this was only the beginning, with “many charges still pending” against PTI leaders, judges of the time and other individuals who “thought themselves bigger than Pakistan” but are now politically isolated.