3 army officers found guilty of abuse of authority

RAWALPINDI: Three majors of the Pakistan Army have been found guilty of indiscipline and misconduct charges, including abuse of authority and involvement in illegal activities, Inter-Services Public Relations announced on Friday.

"Upon [being] found guilty of the charges levelled against them, all three [have been] dismissed from service while two [have] also [been] awarded rigorous imprisonment for two years each," the military's media wing stated.

"Charges included misuse of authority and involvement in illegal activities unbecoming of an officer," the ISPR said.

The exact nature of the charges have not been specified, however, and it remains unclear exactly what the three officers were found guilty of. In August, Gen Qamar Bajwa had ratified life sentence for an army officer after he was found guilty of misusing authority. "Pakistan Army alive to its institutional accountability system has dismissed the officer from service and sent him to jail for life," a brief statement issued by ISPR had said without naming the person against whom the verdict had been given.

Earlier in May, a former army officer retired Brig Raja Rizwan and a civilian official of a military institution Dr Wasim Akram were sentenced to death, and a 14-year jail sentence was given to retired Lt Gen Javed Iqbal for espionage. Those officers were tried under the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) and Official Secrets Act.