Lahore: Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has blamed former ISI chief General Faiz Hamid for a suicide attack on a mosque in a high-security area in Peshawar that killed 101 people, including 97 policemen. Maryam, senior vice-president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), said: “General Faiz Hamid, an aide to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, who was stationed in Peshawar (as a corps commander) was responsible for the Peshawar attack.” were responsible for.” The president told a meeting of the party in Bahawalpur city of Punjab.
A Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up on Monday during afternoon prayers at a mosque in the Police Lines area of Peshawar, killing 101 people and injuring over 200. The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
“He (General Hamid) whom Imran Khan called his eyes, hands and ears, was posted in Peshawar (Corps Commander). Why did he open the doors for terrorists (from Afghanistan)? Why did he say terrorists were our brothers.” And invited them to Pakistan? Why did he release hardcore terrorists from jail?” Maryam asked.
He further said, “If he (General Hamid) had become the eyes, hands and ears of Pakistan, this situation (of terrorism) would not have happened.” Maryam also taunted the former ISI chief for his “controversial visit” to Afghanistan at the time of the fall of the Ashraf Ghani government. “This guy used to say in Afghanistan that it’s all right while drinking coffee,” she said wryly.
Lt Gen Hamid, who served as chief of spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from June 2019 to November 2021, was the first high-ranking foreign official to visit Afghanistan after the Taliban overran the Afghan capital in mid-August. was captured. 2021.
In the final phase of his tenure as ISI chief, he became the center of a spat between Imran Khan and the then army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa after the latter decided to appoint him as the commander of the Peshawar Corps. Was and the former were not. ready to give him relief. He was eventually posted to Peshawar, where he served for less than a year before being transferred to the Bahawalpur Corps.
The post of ISI chief is considered the most important in the Pakistani military, which has ruled the country for more than 75 years of its existence and has so far wielded considerable power in matters of security and foreign policy.
Maryam said that her father had rid the country of terrorism but it returned due to the bad policies of the Imran Khan regime. He also targeted former Army Chief General Bajwa and former Chief Justice Saqib Nisar for indirectly removing his father.
He said, “If Nawaz Sharif was the cause of all the problems, the country should have flowed rivers of milk and honey during Imran Khan’s four-year tenure.” Becoming Sri Lanka, which is facing its worst economic crisis in decades.