Former Pak minister claims ex-spy chief Faiz Hameed ‘best beneficiary’ in Al-Qadir corruption case

By Press Trust of India: A former Pakistan federal minister on Wednesday claimed that the nation’s ex-spy chief Faiz Hameed was the “architect, mastermind and the biggest beneficiary” throughout the corruption case that Imran Khan is at current embroiled in.

Faisal Vawda, who served as a result of the federal minister for water sources beneath Khan’s regime from 2018 to 2021, made this assertion all through his interaction with the media.

“My compulsion today is to tell the nation that when you say the beneficiary is Imran Khan, the biggest is Faiz Hameed,” Vawda said.

“He was the architect, mastermind and biggest beneficiary of the Al-Qadir Trust case,” he added.

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Hameed is a retired three-star Pakistani Army Lieutenant General and a former spymaster who served as the 24th Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

He was at the helm of the ISI from 2019 to 2021, and resigned in December 2022.

According to officials, Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi allegedly received land worth billions of dollars as bribe from a real estate tycoon through a charitable trust, called Al-Qadir Trust.

Khan, 70, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has denied any wrongdoings.

He was arrested on May 9 by the paramilitary Rangers on the orders of the NAB by barging into a room of the Islamabad High Court where he came to attend a corruption case hearing.

Khan’s arrest sparked violent protests across the country.

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His party workers vandalised a dozen sensitive military installations, including the Lahore Corps Commander house, Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad.

The Army headquarters in Rawalpindi was also attacked by the mob for the first time.

Police put the death toll in violent clashes to 10.

Feeling the heat of legal processes, several PTI leaders have quit the party, including liberal-minded former human rights minister Shireen Mazari and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry.

On Wednesday, Khan appealed to the Supreme Court judges to save the democracy in Pakistan, saying “you are our last hope,”.

His remarks came hours after Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the government is mulling a possible ban on Khan’s party following the attacks by his supporters on military installations.

“A decision (to ban PTI) has not been taken yet, but a review is surely underway,” Asif suggested reporters.

Khan, the cricketer-turned politician, was ousted from power in April closing 12 months after dropping a no-confidence vote in his administration, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy concentrating on him attributable to his neutral worldwide protection decisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan.

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