The F Network

Faiz, General Bajwa and Imran plus Bushra formed the Bermuda Triangle that sank all sanity and tossed all rationality into oblivion.

This should have been the last of the five-part series on Pakistan’s likely political futures. But that can wait another few days. The subject of this piece can’t. That itself speaks to the monumental importance of the arrest of and court martial proceedings against Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hamid and his three accomplices, also retd but mid-ranking officers. An x DG ISI is getting court-martialed. You have to read this sentence again and again to get a perspective on the significance of the event.

Also, you have to know General Faiz’s power during his peak years to get your head around the enormity of the proceedings against him. The man was king, lording over everything from Imran’s marriages (deliberate plural) to Pakistan’s political direction. He was to his boss, General Qamar Bajwa, what Frank Nitti was to Al Capone. Nothing moved without passing his desk. And everything moved from his desk. He, General Bajwa and Imran plus Bushra formed the Bermuda Triangle that sank all sanity and tossed all rationality into oblivion. They developed a kitchen autocracy that is unparalleled in Pakistan’s political history. The G3 (Gang of Three) scratched each other’s backs as they distributed among themselves the loaves of fishes of absolute power that corrupted absolutely.

While General retd Bajwa is now hiding behind the obvious but informal protection from prosecution that the office of the army chief enjoys, initially, it was his command that made General Faiz the national wrecker in chief. It was Gen retd Bajwa that paved the way for most of the shenanigans that Gen retd Faiz would carry out even after retirement assuming himself to be an invincible Machiavelli.

Does that absolve Gen retd Faiz of his sensational alleged crimes? No. This only contextualizes the origins of the man and the menace that he became. If it weren’t for Gen Bajwa’s brazen greed and shameless manipulation of the system, Gen retd Faiz would not have got the space that he got to abuse. But as he is now discovering, without the power of the office and the resources you command because your commander deployed you to do dirty jobs, there is no game to play. General retd Faiz looked formidable when was in uniform because he was in uniform. Out of it, he was not even basic. That’s what those who have nabbed him have now proven. No one is bigger than the institution. No one will be spared when caught red-handed. At any rate, Gen red Faiz cannot take refuge in the command-from-above argument because much of what has landed him in the court martial proceedings also relates to his retirement months.

Detailed evidence gathered meticulously forms an impeccable case against General Faiz and his network. The network includes, so called journalists, media owners, businessmen, politicians of all hues and stripes (including pretty much half of the PML-N and much of the PTI, to name just a few) and now retired judges. Some members of the network were inactive. Others were active but unsupportive. Yet others thought that Faiz and Imran backed by some insiders could topple the present military high command by building four-pronged pressure: judicial, media, international, and internal. It is this part of the F-network that must worry because General Asim Munir and his commanders have gone for the heart of the plan. By nabbing their ‘own man’ they have installed the keystone of a strong platform to capture many others. Because the case is a hard-core Army Act matter, all those connected with General retd Faiz’s suicidal games might not be able to claim protection on account of being civilians. This includes Imran and Bushra. And if the courts attempt to scuttle this case, they will be surprised by the response from the Army. Hopefully, things will not go to that point even though some among the judicial ranks continue to misread the mood of Pindi’s Ops Rooms.

This case will most likely proceed swiftly. It can’t be otherwise considering the fact that the army’s repeated beef with the civilian courts system is its slowness and incapacity to deliver quick justice. The army would want to set efficient standards of closing high-profile cases expeditiously. Prosecution and punishment—this is what lies ahead.

What sort of punishment? We don’t know but going purely by the kind of hype the army high command has built around this arrest, and the nature of charges that are being toted around by pro-army social media accounts against General retd Faiz, a light punishment is unlikely. If the charges center on the 9th May conspiracy, then expect the maximum sentence.

This brings us to the core merit and real weight of Gen retd Faiz’s court martial. It is not about him. Rephrase: it is not about him ONLY. It is actually about those who did his bidding, who became part of his plans, or fitted him into their plans. They are set to be incinerated by the fire that is about to burn Gen retd Faiz. For the army high command, this is a very important case, not the least because they have taken internal accountability to an unprecedented level. Further, through this case, they have an opportunity to circumvent the scandalous landscape of judicial politics and fulfill the promises they have repeatedly made to themselves and the nation of holding 9th May conspirators to account. But most important, the case should serve as a reminder to the institution of the need to tighten the filters that somehow can’t prevent the likes of General retd Faiz from floating to key positions. It has to work out ways to prevent blind personal ambitions and power lust of those like General Bajwa and General Raheel Sharif that tar and tarnish the institution and produce toxic characters who can only be dealt with by a court martial.