Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday held ex-spymaster Faiz Hameed responsible for the ouster of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2017, adding that more charges against him were to come soon.<\/p>\n
The minister\u2019s remarks come two days after Hameed, in a first, was sentenced to a 14-year jail term after being convicted on four counts related to violating secrecy laws, engaging in political activities, misuse of authority and causing harm to others.<\/p>\n
Addressing a press conference in Sialkot, the defence minister said, \u201cA former head of ISI has been convicted in a trial that ran for 15 months; there are still other charges on which legal proceedings will be initiated soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
The defence minister assailed the former spymaster, claiming that Nawaz was ousted through a \u201cconspiracy\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe removal of Nawaz, the cases lodged against him, the allegations, and Imran\u2019s coming into power, this whole project was enacted under the supervision of Faiz Hameed,\u201d the defence minister said.<\/p>\n
He said that Hameed, along with his \u201cpartner\u201d Imran, was responsible for causing \u201csignificant damage\u201d to the country. Asif also said that Hameed was \u201cin charge of project Imran\u201d, highlighting the 2018 general elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cFaiz was the most important part of that government,\u201d the minister stated.<\/p>\n
He said that during PTI\u2019s tenure, the ex-spymaster facilitated the \u201cimprisonment of opponents\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe used to threaten and imprison political opponents,\u201d he said, stressing that Imran\u2019s \u201cvision\u201d was materialised through Hameed. The minister also said that Hameed\u2019s main beneficiary was Imran.<\/p>\n
The minister termed the period a \u201cshameful\u201d chapter in the country\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
The minister alleged that \u201cbringing Imran into power, lodging cases against Nawaz, exiling him, imprisoning his family and his party leaders and workers\u201d, all of it was orchestrated by Hameed.<\/p>\n
He went on to say that the former ISI chief \u201cwas given the opportunity to govern Pakistan through Imran\u201d.<\/p>\n
The minister said that during the ex-spymaster\u2019s tenure, the institution used to \u201cdictate\u201d legislation to parliament.<\/p>\n
\u201cDecisions for the country\u2019s future used to be made in the backyard of the prime minister\u2019s house,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He noted that after Hameed\u2019s transfer, his \u201cproject\u201d started to slowly \u201cunravel\u201d. He went on to say that as a corps commander, Hameed continued to facilitate Imran.<\/p>\n
He further alleged that Hameed was involved in the violent riots in the country on May 9, 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was his planning; people within the institution also played a part, but the manpower was PTI workers,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a joint venture by General Faiz,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n
At this point, the minister paused to correct himself for calling Hameed a general. \u201cI keep saying general because it has only been four days since his title was revoked,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He further maintained that the \u201cconspirators attempting to prop up Imran today and bring him back to power, all these seeds were sown by Faiz.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese two personalities can not be separated,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n
Calling the May 9 riots an \u201cattack\u201d on the sanctity of armed forces, he emphasised that the same armed forces had raised the nation\u2019s pride after the operation \u201cBunyan ul Marsoos\u201d against India in May.<\/p>\n
It brought Pakistan international acclaim, the minister said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow imagine, if Faiz and Imran\u2019s plans had succeeded, where would we be today?\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod forbid, if the Faiz-Imran nexus still existed, perhaps there would not have been a need for war at all since they would have ensured the country\u2019s destruction from the inside,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday held ex-spymaster Faiz Hameed responsible for the ouster of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2017, adding that more charges against him were to come soon. The minister\u2019s remarks come two days after Hameed, in a first, was sentenced to a 14-year jail term after being convicted on four […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14140,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14141,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14139\/revisions\/14141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}