INVOKING Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Faiz Hameed in the same breath evokes unease, yet it is unavoidable. When Faiz Hameed was sentenced, a question resurfaced—one that Faiz Sahib had once asked with aching longing: When will this pain, O heart, come to rest? When will the night finally pass? We were told they would come; we were told the dawn would break. Has the long-awaited “morning of speech” truly arrived? Is that radiant evening, dreamt of by our poet, now within reach? I have no definitive answer. Yet something has undeniably occurred—something a few expected. Therefore, there is no cause for triumphalism over Faiz Hameed’s court martial, nor reason to sink into despair. What is required is an effort to understand the turn history has just taken before our eyes. What does this moment signify, and what does it foreshadow?
This question cannot be answered without revisiting an earlier chapter of history—one that immediately preceded these events. I refer to the chain that began with the 2014 sit-in. Another crucial link was the episode in which Faiz Hameed was heard cautioning Justice Shaukat Siddiqui not to destroy “my two years of investment” by deciding cases strictly on merit. Together, these incidents provide the foundation for understanding this historical turn. When Imran Khan and his political cousin, Tahir-ul-Qadri, succeeded in staging the sit-in at D-Chowk, Dr. Shahid Hasan Siddiqui remarked that the two had bound Pakistan hand and foot and presented it to the United States. CPEC, he warned, should be considered a closed chapter. At the time, this seemed implausible—how could someone vocal against American drone strikes be serving US interests? Yet exactly four years later, that assessment materialized. Upon assuming power, Imran Khan’s government unleashed a sustained propaganda campaign against CPEC—Pakistan’s economic lifeline—and effectively stalled its progress.
Was this entire political spectacle staged merely to sabotage CPEC? The truth is deeper. The “investment” whose loss Faiz Hameed feared was tied to the political consciousness that had produced the Charter of Democracy—dismissed by Imran Khan as nothing more than “backroom deals” and “turn-taking.” The Charter may not have been flawless, and its signatories may have faltered in implementation, but it marked a crucial milestone. It offered a path toward political stability, economic continuity, and eventual national dignity. Had that trajectory been allowed to mature, Pakistan might have escaped the cyclical crises it faces every decade or so, waiting—after painful trials—for the luminous dawn Faiz envisioned. But that was not permitted. Through two years of calculated effort, that entire trajectory was dismantled, leaving behind a searing imprint on the national memory. When those two years bore fruit, a new system emerged under Imran Khan—one in which the promised dawn faded into illusion. In its place arose a hybrid order, gradually steering the country toward one-party authoritarianism, under the patronage of assertive figures like Faiz Hameed. This journey might have continued had Kashmir not slipped from the hands of Imran Khan and his backers.
When Narendra Modi altered the constitutional status of occupied Kashmir, Imran Khan’s government facilitated the outcome—offering token protests for domestic consumption while avoiding any meaningful international action. During the same period, TTP militants were brought back and resettled in Pakistan, reigniting terrorism. Meanwhile, no serious attempt was made to stabilize the economy; the government’s own FBR Chairman, Shabbar Zaidi, repeatedly declared the country effectively bankrupt. The convergence of renewed terrorism and economic collapse pushed Pakistan toward a perilous threshold—one where international intervention over its nuclear assets became a conceivable risk. Under such circumstances, the collapse of the Imran Government became inevitable. Yet while the government fell, the journey that began in 2014 did not end. The success of the no-confidence motion shattered Faiz Hameed’s ambitions, prompting him to emerge more openly—culminating in the events of May 9. This episode holds special significance in Pakistan’s history. It was not merely a protest against an elected government; it was a conscious attempt to create divisions within the defence forces. Had this effort succeeded, the outcome would not simply have been Faiz Hameed replacing Field Marshal Asim Munir. A permanent fissure would have been embedded within the country’s defense institutions, placing Pakistan’s security in enduring jeopardy. In such a scenario, even imagining the extraordinary victory granted by God’s grace on May 10 would have been impossible.
This is the true backdrop to the sentence handed down to Faiz Hameed—though it does not end there. The four charges on which he was convicted, including abuse of authority and violations of the Official Secrets Act, may signal a new beginning—one that compels future power-brokers to think carefully before crossing similar lines. A glimpse of what lies ahead appears in the ISPR press release, which indicates that Faiz Hameed’s political role—one that plunged the country into instability—is being dealt with separately. This suggests that the verdict marks the opening of a new chapter. Will the future provide an answer to Faiz Sahib’s enduring question? It is difficult to say. History rarely moves in straight lines, nor are such complex matters reducible to simple arithmetic. Yet one conclusion is inescapable: the fall of a powerful figure like Faiz Hameed is no ordinary event. Its repercussions will be multifaceted—and they may well help move the nation closer to its long-sought destination.
—This writer is former advisor to the President of Pakistan, author & mass media theorist.
(farooq.adilbhuta@gmail,com)
