ISLAMABAD: The incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding chairman Imran Khan on Thursday said that former Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa removed former Director General (DG) of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed (retired) from his post at the behest of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

“Bajwa removed Hameed as well as my government for his extension,” Khan alleged while talking to reporters informally following the hearing of the Al-Qadir Trust case against him and his wife at Adiala Jail.

He said Bajwa removed Hameed at the behest of Sharifs.

He said that he exchanged harsh words with Bajwa over the issue of removing the former ISI chief from his post. “I repeatedly asked Bajwa not to remove Faiz but to no avail,” he added.

Khan also said that as per the Intelligence Bureau (IB) reports the current Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan was frequently seen meeting with Bajwa.

He said he did not want to remove former ISI chief Hameed as he was engaged with the Taliban and Afghan government.

The PTI founding chairman said it was a golden opportunity to end terrorism in Pakistan. The former ISI chief Hameed had made a comprehensive plan for curbing terrorism in the country and given it to the opposition, he said, adding that Hameed had a good relationship with the Taliban and he had held negotiations with the Taliban for three years. “Hameed was our asset but it was wasted,” he said, adding that Hameed had arranged his meeting with Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban representatives.

To a question about the arrest of the former ISI chief, he said that “investigating Hameed is the military’s internal matter. He has nothing to do with it. It is good that the military is conducting internal accountability but they should conduct the process of accountability across the board.”

When he was asked that Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Hameed had a direct link with the ‘May 9 violence’, he said, “all the issues started from his arrest then why they are not investigating it?”

“If Hameed was found involved in the ‘May 9’ violence then he should be investigated,” he said, adding that ‘May 9’ was actually he part of London Plan.

He alleged that the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Chief Justice Islamabad High Court (IHC) and Chief Election Commissioner were part of the London Plan. “Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa remembers the Faizabad Commission and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto case but is not hearing our petitions.”

Earlier, Accountability Court judge, Nasir Javed Rana, while hearing the £190 million National Crime Agency (NCA) scam, commonly known as the Al-Qadir Trust case, adjourned the proceedings of the case till August 17.

At the start of the hearing, Khan’s legal team requested the court to adjourn the case as IHC has fixed their several cases for hearing for today. The defence counsel further requested that the court has not provided us the verified copy of its judgement regarding the dismissal of Khan’s petition seeking to present the minutes of the NAB board meeting regarding the case. They issued orders to provide verified copy of the verdict.

During the hearing, Bushra Bibi came to the rostrum and told the court that NAB had provided her a questionnaire regarding the new Toshakhana case. The jail authorities had taken away all papers from her room as she was preparing a reply of the NAB’s questionnaire, she said.

The court ordered the Deputy Superintendent of Jail to provide the papers to Bushra Bibi.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024