ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court will take up today (Monday) review pleas against the top court’s 2012 judgment in famous Asghar Khan case, involving alleged distribution of Rs 140 million to a group of politicians by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to manipulate the 1990s election.
The review pleas will be heard by a three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan. Shah Khawar and Syed Ali Zafar advocates will appear before the court on notice.
In 1996, Air Marshal (r) Asghar Khan wrote a letter to the then chief justice of Pakistan Nasim Hassan Shah alleging that the then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan, then army chief General Mirza Aslam Beg, then director general ISI Lt Gen Asad Durrani and then head of Habib Bank and owner of now defunct Mehran Bank Younis Habib had doled out Rs 140 million among several politicians ahead of 1990 polls to ensure Benazir Bhutto’s defeat in the general elections.
On October 19, 2012, the top court handed down a 141-page verdict under the then chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry declaring that 1990 elections were rigged. It was a landmark ruling from the Supreme Court 16 years after Asghar Khan filed the case.
The court ordered the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to investigate into the matter, adding that if evidence was found against anyone, action should be taken against them. General (r) Beg and Gen (r) Asad Durrani then filed appeals against the apex court’s decision.
The court ruled that there was ample evidence to suggest that the 1990 election was rigged and that a political cell maintained by the then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan supported the formation of the IJI to stop a victory of the PPP. The ruling said Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Baig and Durrani violated the constitution.
The court further ruled that the general election held in the year 1990 was subjected to corruption and corrupt practices. “Moreover, it has been established that an Election Cell had been created in the Presidency, which was functioning to provide financial assistance to the favoured candidates, or a group of political parties to achieve desired result by polluting election process and to deprive the people of Pakistan from being represented by their chosen representatives. Late Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the then president of Pakistan, General (r) Aslam Baig and General (r) Asad Durrani acted in violation of the Constitution,” read the apex court, adding the federal government should take necessary steps under the constitution and law against them.
Stating that corruption was carried out in the 1990 election, the ruling said that the president, the army chief and the ISI’s director-general were not authorised to constitute an election cell. It added that the state should implement its authority through the elected representatives of the people.
The court ruled that the election cell “was aided by General (r) Mirza Aslam Baig who was the Chief of Army Staff and by General (r) Asad Durrani, the then Director General ISI and they participated in the unlawful activities of the Election Cell in violation of the responsibilities of the Army and ISI.”
The court also ruled that political cells of the ISI and the President House should be abolished and ordered the government to take legal action against former retired generals involved in the corruption as well as against Younus Habib, former president of the now defunct Mehran Bank.
The court also ordered that money that was illegally disbursed among the politicians by the then president and the ISI should be recovered and deposited in the Habib Bank along with the accumulated interest on it. “Legal proceedings shall be initiated against the politicians, who allegedly have received donations to spend on election campaigns in the general election of 1990,” and a transparent investigation on the criminal side shall be initiated by the FIA against all of them, the court ruled.
“Mr. M. Younas A. Habib, the then Chief Executive of Habib Bank Ltd arranged/provided Rs 140 million belonging to public exchequer, out of which an amount of Rs 60 million was distributed to politicians,” added the court order. The verdict said that political activism was not the domain of the military and the intelligence agencies. Their job is to cooperate with the government, the verdict said.
In his petition, Asghar Khan had requested the court to look into allegations that the ISI had financed many politicians in the 1990 election by dishing out Rs140 million to create the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) and stop Benazir Bhutto’s PPP from coming to power. The petition was based on an affidavit of Durrani.
The petitioner, Asghar Khan, and some other characters of the case – former president Ghulam Ishaq Khan, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, former interior minister Major General (r) Naseerullah Babar – and a key witness senior lawyer and former law minister Abdul Hafeez Pirzada have passed away.
Published in Daily Times, May 7th 2018.