General Faiz Hameed was seen as close to former prime minister Imran Khan because Khan hired him as head of the ISI while he was in office. Most people in Pakistan think that, after the army chief, the head of the ISI is the second most powerful military leader.
Before being put in charge of the Bahawalpur corps, Hameed was in charge of the same job in Peshawar. He has been a controversial figure in Pakistan’s politics for the past ten years.
A lot of people first heard about General Faiz Hameed in November 2017, when he was very important in ending the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan-led sit-in in Faizabad through a peaceful deal.
Because of this event, the Supreme Court issued a “on its own” notice in February 2019 telling the ISI and Inter-Services Public Relations to closely follow their own duties.
General Faiz Hameed
From 2019 to 2021, General Faiz Hameed was DG ISI. He became famous around the world when he was caught on camera drinking tea in the hallway of a Kabul hotel, not long after the Taliban took over Afghanistan after the US and other Western forces left in 2021.
Allegedly showing evidence of corruption involving Khan‘s wife, Bushra Bibi, and a close friend, Farah Gogi, General Asim Munir—who was head of the ISI at the time—is now commander of the Army—was swiftly sacked. This resulted in Hameed’s appointment.
Many people thought and said that Imran wanted to make Genenral Faiz Hameed the next Army chief after General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa retires in November 2022. He was one of six generals whose names were sent by GHQ to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif so that he could be considered for the top military job in 2022.
Khan was removed from office by a vote of no-confidence in April 2022. He said that the military was behind the removal, but the military has denied this.
He then started a campaign of defiance against the military. When he was arrested for graft in May 2023, it led to national protests that turned violent and saw an unprecedented amount of anger directed at army bases.
It led to a broad ban on his party, which still won the most seats in the general election in February even though its candidates had to run as independents.
