Ex-DG ISI was used by PTI founder for politics: DG ISPR

Rawalpindi: Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Tuesday that former DG ISI Faiz Hameed was used by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former prime minister Imran Khan for political purposes.

Addressing a press conference, the DG ISPR reiterated that terrorism remains the biggest threat facing the state of Pakistan, adding that counter-terrorism operations in 2025 witnessed unprecedented intensity.

Responding to a question regarding the resettlement of terrorists in 2021 and allegations of selective accountability, the DG ISPR said that institutions lose effectiveness and independence when politicised. He stressed that the armed forces are the only institution that remains above politics.

Without naming Imran Khan directly, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that at the time, the then prime minister runs his political party in a dictatorial manner, with the entire party and government revolving around a single individual.

“This was not an institutional matter; it was a game of personalities,” he said, adding that institutions should not be blamed for decisions taken for personal political interests.

“Where is the DG ISI from that time who was used for political purposes?”, DG ISPR questioned.

DG ISPR said that the former prime minister was extremely powerful, contradicting the claims that he lacked authority.

“He was so powerful that he declared the then Army Chief as the ‘father of the nation’. No prime minister since 1947 has ever exercised such authority,” he said.

He added that Pakistan has only one founding father — Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and one national poet, Allama Muhammad Iqbal, rejecting what he described as attempts to reshape national symbols for political convenience.

The DG ISPR criticised continued calls by KP govt for negotiations with terrorists, questioning their motivations.

“They have already pushed their own province into this fire and now want to drag the entire country into it,” he said, adding that such approaches have only worsened the security situation.