ISLAMABAD - Security sources have strongly reacted to the press talk by PTI founder chairman Imran Khan who demanded open trial of former spy master Lt Gen(Retd) Faiz Hameed.
Sources confided to this scribe that who is Imran Khan to decide whether there would be open trial of Lt Gen Faiz Hameed or secret trial. However, the sources said Imran Khan should be rest assured that if he is tried in connection with Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, that trial would be open.
The sources said through open trial the whole world would know about the deeds of Imran Khan and what actions he has ordered through others.
Meanwhile, initial investigation report about confessions of former ISI chief Lt Gen (Retd) Faiz Hameed has been given to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
It was revealed that Faiz Hameed was in touch with Imran Khan through deputy superintendent of Adiala Jail Akram Malik who was the messenger.
An old fashioned mobile phone used by Faiz Hameed has also been recovered from him which had unknown number for communications.
Earlier, Imran Khan called for an open trial of Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed.
“I demand an open trial of Gen Faiz Hameed if he is allegedly a central character behind the May 9 conspiracy,” said jailed Imran Khan in his informal talk with reporters at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail. The opposition politician clarified that he was making this demand from Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir.
Former spymaster Gen Hameed is facing court martial proceedings on charges of misconduct and corruption in connection with a private housing society scam and is in the custody of the military.
An investigation is also underway against Gen Hameed on charges of maintaining links with the incarcerated PTI founder Khan and playing the role of a facilitator in May 9 attacks against civil and military installations.
Khan went on to say that the open trial would bring truth before the masses and added, “I know that they (the military authorities) will decide the case in a closed room.” He also said the trial of Gen Hameed was neither an issue of national security nor an internal matter of the Army and could be held in open.
Previously, the PTI leader on the arrest of Gen Hameed by the Army had called the development an internal matter of the institution.
In his talk, the former prime minister denied his links with the ex-ISI chief after his retirement from the Army service. He underlined that Gen Hameed had become irrelevant after his retirement and questioned what benefit the former intelligence chief could give to him after retirement.
Khan said all cases against him have “collapsed”, indicating efforts are being made to entangle him in new cases.
He claimed the conspiracy of May 9 riots started with his arrest by paramilitary Rangers from the premises of Islamabad High Court. “I know who had ordered my arrest,” he said. The person in question is the same one who controls Rangers, he said and called that person as “super king” but avoided to name any one.
“I am a former prime minister and the image of Pakistan would be damaged globally if my case was taken to the military court,” he said.
A day earlier, he had said a stage was being set for his military trial in May 9 cases as Gen Hameed is being forced to turn an approver against him.
However, Khan’s demand of open trial prompted a strong reaction from the security establishment who questioned the jailed leader’s authority to give them a dictation over the matter.
“Who is the PTI founder to dictate whether Gen Faiz Hameed’s trial will be held in an open court or not?” said an unofficial statement issued to reporters by unnamed security officials.
They further said the PTI leader should rest assured that if he was tried in this matter, the same would be open and transparent so that the whole world could see what he has done.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar in his response called the demand tantamount to interfering into the internal matters of the Army. “The PTI founder is continuously making efforts to make the issue controversial,” he said. Former prime minister looks frustrated and his remarks show that Gen Hameed was his asset, he added.