WHEN former army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa decided to launch his ‘get Nawaz’ operation because he was convinced that the then prime minister was dead against granting extensions, he plucked from relative obscurity the general officer commanding (GOC) of the 16th Division based in Pano Aqil in northern Sindh, and gave him one of the most politically significant military postings in the country at the ISI HQ in Islamabad. A second term for Bajwa fitted in with Faiz Hameed’s plans too.

The newly appointed DGC, Maj-Gen Faiz Hameed, hit the ground running and within no time established his stranglehold over the media, cajoling and threatening everyone from YouTubers to senior editors, empowered street agitators such as the TLP, and spread his tentacles to grip key members of the country’s superior judiciary. He seemed to have mesmerised even hitherto respected judges.

With unprecedented viciousness, he quickly removed all the obstacles in the path of the brief he’d been given and anyone who knew what was happening would say Nawaz Sharif’s goose was cooked and he was not just looking at being ousted from office but was going to end up in prison. The general also worked on making sure that the alternative who’d not had much electoral success till that stage became a serious contender.

Perhaps, today the focus of mostly unbiased observers rightly remains on the 2024 elections but it is equally important to see how the 2018 elections were conducted. In the process, Faiz Hameed cultivated close........

© Dawn