The process of court-martial proceedings against the former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief General (retd) Faiz Hameed was in the context of the “prevailing environment” in the country, anchorperson Shaukat Piracha said on Monday.

“This is a very very serious development in the Pakistan context,” he said while reacting to the Pakistan military’s decision to take the former spymaster into custody in connection with the Top City housing scheme scandal.

In a shocking development on Monday, the military’s media wing said that Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed has been taken into military custody and the process of field general court martial has been initiated against him about the Top City housing scheme scandal.

“Appropriate disciplinary action has been initiated against the former spymaster under provisions of the Pakistan Army Act,” the Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement.

According to the ISPR, the action was taken following the Supreme Court orders into the case.

The anchorperson, who had joined the live proceedings of Aaj News, was of the view that the Top City case was “another thing” and focused on the “multiple instances of violation of Pakistan Army Act post-retirement” mentioned in the ISPR statement.

Piracha hosts Rubaroo, a talk show, on Aaj News four days a week. His show is centred on the political developments in the country.

He was of the view that the violation of the Military Act, of 1952 had a broad scope. According to the anchorperson, the ISPR press release did not mention everything.

When asked whether a serving army man could face court martial, he replied that the Top City case was reported within the service. The news analyst also mentioned the amendments to the Military Act that included the post-retirement actions.

“The fact of the matter according to the press release is that Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hamee was taken into custody and the court martial proceedings against him,” Piracha said and added that he has never seen a former ISI chief taken into the military custody.

He mentioned that former ISI DG Lieutenant General (retd) Asad Ahmed Durrani had submitted some affidavits when he was posted as an ambassador to Germany, but was never arrested. He added that Lieutenant General (retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi, another former ISI chief, was appointed minister and developments started against him but he was never arrested.

“But Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed has a first context with today’s development. His custody is not out of Pakistan’s overall context. For example, files related to his appointment were being received and sent when the PTI chief [Imran Khan] was the PM. These things are connected,” Piracha said.

When asked about any hints related to alleged political interference, the anchorperson said that “multiple post-retirement violations” was enough to understand such perceptions. He stated that the May 9 events and PTI leader Shahbaz Gill’s arrest occurred at that time.

But he clarified that analysis “can never be 100% correct” as experts can only do guesswork.

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Tariq Chaudhry, Aaj News bureau chief in Islamabad, said that the heads of Pakistan’s premium intelligence agency have often faced major allegations in the country’s history, but the situation has never reached the point where it was announced that a certain officer has been taken into custody and court martial proceedings have been initiated.

“We have never seen a high-profile general being arrested in this manner before,” Journalist Munizae Jahangir said.

She said that it was repeatedly claimed that Hameed was allegedly patronising the PTI and was still doing so.