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

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

In a post on “14 years in prison… this is the beginning,” he wrote.

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

Vawda also revised his old claim that he had been expelled from the PTI “a year before May 9” because he had been warning party leaders not to follow that course of action. “I said at the time that once they took the path of May 9, there would be no return,” he added.

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

Read more: Former 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 commander of its victorious army, Asim Munir, with all its heart. The reason is that what did not happen in 75 years has now begun… the foundation of justice has been laid within its own institution.” He stated that events had shown that “no general, no judge and no political leader is greater than Pakistan. Pakistan is above all.”

Vawda reiterated that “those who publish narratives of murder, violence, abuse and aiding enemies against Pakistan” will no longer have “an inch of space” and will be made an example of “legality.” He said: “Barbarism will be used to drive anti-state elements to their final destination.” “Pakistan will always live,” he added.

‘Next May 9, the facilitators’

On the other hand, the senator said that the decisive phase would occur once the verdicts in the May 9 cases were issued.

Referring to the PTI, he said the political party behind the violent protests would “see its fate written on the wall”, adding that the justice process “will not stop now”. He maintained that the real reckoning lay 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 events of May 9 unleashed “destruction” and damaged “the state, politics, the judiciary and democracy,” along with an alleged attempt to take control of the media. With this latest conviction, “the foundation has been laid that nothing is bigger than Pakistan; the principle of accountability and reward has now been established.”

Read also: “No one is above the law”: journalists and politicians celebrate the conviction of Faiz Hameed

The former PTI leader alleged that the party responsible was involved in a “drama”, while its founder oversaw a ferocity that led to harm to people and attacks on national institutions, monuments to martyrs and state symbols.

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

The senator said the central problem in Pakistan had long been the absence of a functioning accountability system. “Army chief General Asim Munir has initiated this corrective process from within his own institution.”

Vawda further said that those who facilitated the violent May 9 protests would also be “eliminated,” adding that if the military was not willing to forgive their own, “Do you think others will remain safe?”

He said this was just the beginning, with “many charges still pending” against PTI leaders, judges of the time and others who “believed themselves to be bigger than Pakistan” but now find themselves politically isolated.