Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: After Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz quaid Nawaz Sharif and Jamaat Islami leaders, former federal minister Abida Hussain has also denied receiving any money from intelligence agencies for joining the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) in the 1990 general election.

The veteran politician made the submission in a hearing of the Asghar Khan case on Monday.

The Supreme Court had notified all respondents in the case to submit their replies. In her one-page response, Hussain said, “The allegation contained in the affidavit of General (retd) Asad Durrani is incorrect and denied. The answering respondent did not receive money as alleged.”

Earlier Sharif and leaders of the JI had also denied receiving funds from the ISI to run their campaign for the election. Sharif submitted a written statement in the SC on June 9.

In 2009, Abida Hussain, then part of PML-N, had publicly acknowledged that she received funds after Lt General (retd) Asad Durrani revealed that payments were made to politicians to prevent the victory of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Benazir Bhutto.

General (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg, who was heading the armed forces at that time, said that the move had come to ‘discredit Nawaz’.

Published in Daily Times, June 12^th 2018.