Daily Times

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Thursday endorsed the sentences of two retired senior army officers and a civilian on charges of espionage, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a press statement.

According to the military’s media wing, Lieutenant General (r) Javed Iqbal, Brigadier (r) Raja Rizwan and Dr Wasim Akram, an employee at a sensitive organisation, were convicted of espionage activities and leaking sensitive information to foreign spy agencies. “Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa endorsed punishment to two senior retired army officers and one civil officer on the charges of espionage/ leakage of sensitive information to foreign agencies prejudice to the national security,” the ISPR statement said.

“The officers were tried under Pakistan Army Act (PAA) and Official Secret Act by separate Field General Court Martial (FGCM) for separate cases,” the ISPR said.

The following details, quoted verbatim, list the names of the three individuals and the punishment accorded to them:

Retired Lieutenant General Javed Iqbal – awarded 14 years rigorous imprisonment

Retired Brigadier Raja Rizwan – awarded death sentence

Doctor Wasim Akram (employed at a sensitive organisation) – awarded death sentence

The ISPR statement did not contain any further details of the offences committed by the three convicts. However, it released a previous video statement of ISPR DG Major General Asif Ghafoor confirming the arrest of the two officers and their court-marital. “Reports are circulating in the media that two senior army officers are under arrest. Yes they are. There are two officers who are under military custody on the charges of espionage,” he confirms in the video. “The army chief has ordered a field general court martial which is under process. Both are separate cases and not linked to one another in any way and there is no network as such,” he said. “Please keep in mind that if we have been able to get them and identify the issue, it is a success. These things do happen […] when the court martial process is complete, I will share whatever results emerge with you,” he had said.

A senior military official told Daily Times that military officers of all ranks are accountable without any discrimination. Accountability of former ISI chief Lt Gen (r) Asad Durrani was also part of this across-the-board accountability process, he maintained. According to statistics shared by the official, some 400 officers of various ranks have been given various punishments, including reprimand, warning, caution, salary-cut, dismissal from service, and even imprisonment, during the last two years.